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MEMORIAL 


OF  THE    LATE 


HONORABLE    DAVID  S.  JONES. 


WITH    AN    APPENDIX, 


JONES  FAMILY,  .OF  QUEEN'S  COUNTY, 


uw^ 


NEW- YORK; 


TAN  FORD   AND  SWORDS,    137,   BROADWAY. 

AND   FOR   SALE   BY 
BANKS,  GOULD,  &  Co.,  144,  NASSAU-STREET. 


1849. 


J.  R.  M'GOWN,  PRINTER, 
57,  AKW-STRKKT. 


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71 
372J7 


INTRODUCTION. 


IN  making  up  this  little  volume,  the  principal  object  of 
the  present  writer  was  to  collect  together  the  differ- 
ent obituary  notices  of  his  late  honored  Father,  in  a 
form  less  ephemeral  than  those  in  which  they  originally 
appeared.  And  in  addition,  to  reprint  the  biogra- 
phical sketches  of  the  more  prominent  members  of 
the  family  of  Jones,  of  Queens  County. 

The  memoir  which  precedes  the  obituary  notices 
may  be  regarded  as  an  illustrative  commentary  upon 
them,  a  simple  statement  of  facts,  necessary  to  a  more 
complete  view  of  the  career  of  the  subject  of  such 
sincere  and  hearty  eulogium. 

The  influence  of  the  character  of  Mr.  Jones,  was 
as  extensive  as  the  knowledge  of  it ;  and  a  record 
of  the  testimony  of  the  best  judges  to  his  purity» 
integrity,  and  elevation,  is  justly  due  to  his  good 
fame — the  richest  legacy  he  has  left  his  children. 


13G1351 


IV 

So  circumscribed,  however,  is  professional  repu- 
tation, more  especially  in  the  case  of  the  able  lawyer, 
than  in  that  of  the  popular  divine,  or  skilful  physician, 
that  unless  connected  with  distinguished  political 
standing,  it  appears  to  be  comprehended  almost 
entirely  within  the  limits  of  the  profession.  The 
instance  of  Mr.  Jones,  furnishes  no  exception  to  this 
position.  He  was  known  chiefly  to  the  elder  mem- 
bers of  the  Bar,  his  contemporaries,  (for  whom  this- 
tribute  is  especially  prepared,)  and  to  the  best  por- 
tion of  the  society  of  New- York.  But  he  should  be 
known  to  many  more,  and  it  is  hoped  that  this  slight 
memorial  may  bring  others  acquainted  with  his  name 
and  sterling  attributes,  who  might  not  otherwise 
have  become  acquainted  with  either. 

W.  A.  JONES, 
June  20th,  1849. 


M  E  M  0  I  B,  . 


DAVID  S.  JONES,  the  sixth  son  of  Hon.  Samuel 
Jones  and  Cornelia  Haring,  (a  highly  respec- 
table old  New- York  family,)  was  born  at  his 
father's  country-seat,  West  Neck,  South  Oys- 
terbay,  Queens  county,  November  3,  1777. 

At  an  early  period  he  came  up  to  New- 
York  to  school,  and  after  the  usual  preparation 
entered  Columbia  College,  the  head  of  his 
class,  a  position  he  maintained  throughout 
his  college  course,  graduating  with  the  high- 
est honors,  a  member  of  the  class  of  1796.* 

*  May  4. — The  sole  surviving  members  are  Andrew 
Garr,  Esq.,  and  Dr.  Wm.  Turk,  at  one  time,  a  surgeon  in 

the  navy. 

2 


To  his  latest  days  the  effects  of  a  thorough 
early  training  were  evident;  in  his  literary 
taste,  correct  and  elegant ;  a  memory,  strong, 
quick,  and  ready,  full  of  classic  instances ;  a 
love  of  exactness  and  simplicity  in  language, 
and  a  judgment  naturally  clear  and  pene- 
trating, rendered  still  clearer  and  stronger  by 
the  study  of  mathematics,  to  which,  no  less 
than  for  philological  nicety,  he  had  a  natural 
fondness. 

Soon  after  leaving  college  he  was  appoint- 
ed private  secretary  to  Grov.  Jay,  (between 
whom  and  his  father  there  existed  a  strong 
and  intimate  affection,)  and  in  whose  family 
he  resided,  at  Albany,  between  two  and  three 
years. 

On  his  return  to  New- York,  Mr.  Jones 
became  a  student  at  law,  in  the  best  possible 
school,  that  of  his  father,  and  eldest  brother.* 

It  is  needless  to  inform  any  person  who  is 

at  all  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  New- 

*  At  present,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals. 


York  Bench  and  Bar,  for  the  last  century,  of 
the  professional  celebrity  of  this  name.  In 
Thompson's  history  of  Long  Island,  under  an 
historical  memoir  of  Hon.  Samuel  Jones,  may 
be  found  a  succinct  but  clear  account  of  the 
ancestry  of  Mr.  Jones,  two  of  whom  were 
ante-revolutionary  judges  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  colony.  And  since  their  day 
there  have  been  three  generations  of  able 
lawyers,  preserving  the  succession  of  legal 
eminence,  amongst  whom  are  to  be  counted 
three  judges,  with  distinguished  political  par- 
tizans  in  the  senate  and  assembly  of  this  state. 

At  that  epoch  of  New- York  society,  (New- 
York  was  then  a  country  town,  the  northern 
boundary  of  which,  within  the  memory  of  the 
subject  of  the  present  sketch,  was  St.  Paul's 
church,)  every  gentleman  occupied  that  place 
to  which  he  was  justly  entitled  from  birth, 
education,  talents,  professional  skill,  and  per- 
sonal character. 

First,  among  the  first,  Mr.  Jones  was  pro- 


minent  as  a  gay  and  accomplished  man  of 
fashion,  a  character  he  sustained  with  spirit 
and  vivacity.  He  took  part  in  all  the  current 
amusements  and  popular  associations  of  the 
day  :  as  a  young  man,  and  ever  afterward  "  a 
knightly,  gallant  worshipper  of  the  ladies." — 
New- York  has  now  grown  to  he  a  large  city, 
a  cosmopolitan  metropolis,  a  western  London 
and  Paris  combined,  of  course  very  consider- 
ably smaller  than  either,  and  less  elegant  than 
the  latter  ;  yet  possessing  something  of  the 
characteristic  traits  of  both  great  cities,  with 
scarcely  anything  of  Nieuw  Amsterdam  left 
to  declare  its  original.  In  some  wards,  it  is  a 
German  colony ;  in  others,  a  French  faubourg ; 
here  a  Jews'  quarter,  and  there  a  confused 
mingling  of  the  various  British  races.  Of 
Americans  residing  here,  a  large  body  is  from 
New  England ;  and,  it  must  be  confessed, 
there  are  few  Knickerbockers  left — but  few 
veritable  New-Yorkers,  in  New- York. 

Local  feeling  is  weaker  here  than  perhaps 


in  any  city  of  the  Union.  A  little  band  at- 
tempt to  keep  alive  the  spirit,  but  it  is  almost 
extinct.  Two  of  the  latest  addresses  before 
the  St.  Nicholas  Society,  on  the  last  two  an- 
niversaries, by  Mr.  C.  F.  Hoffman  and  Presi- 
dent Duer,  show  what  might  yet  be  done  to 
keep  fresh  the  memory  of  the  days  and  the 
men  that  are  either  gone,  or  rapidly  passing 
away.  A  history  of  the  colony  and  state,  by 
the  first  gentleman,  and  which  would  come 
fitly  from  him,  would  crown  an  already  en- 
viable reputation,  literary  and  personal,  by 
superadding  the  graces  of  historical  narration 
to  the  united  talent  of  the  agreeable  poet  and 
spirited  prose-writer ;  who  is  at  the  same  time, 
what  so  few  American  writers  can  justly 
boast  of  being,  an  accomplished,  liberal- 
minded  gentleman.  President  Duer  is  pre- 
eminently well  fitted  to  write  the  social 
history  of  the  city,  not  only  of  the  last  quar- 
ter of  the  last  century,  but  of  this  first  half 
of  the  present.  No  person  has  had  better 


10 

opportunities  than  he  of  a  wide  and  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  first  men  of  his  day, 
and  with  the  various,  changing  history  of  the 
city  and  of  its  society. 

We  may  have  gained  vastly  as  to  wealth 
and  the  increase  of  business,  in  trade  and 
manufactures,  in  the  arts  of  life  and  elegan- 
cies of  living,  hut  we  have  lost  ground  in 
some  particulars.  The  old  gentry  are  almost 
all  gone,  the  glories  of  the  Bar  have  become 
matters  of  tradition.  The  stateliness  and 
ceremonial  of  the  old  school  of  manners,  are 
considered  unmeaning  and  ridiculous ;  the 
pleasing  courtesies  of  conversation  are  met 
rarely,  save  in  a  still  lingering  specimen  of 
the  same  old  school,  or  in  one  of  those  few 
gentlemen  by  nature,  "  God  Almighty's  gen- 
tlemen," who  commence  new  families,  and 
are  almost  as  rare  as  men  of  genius. 

But  the  present  writer,  is  altogether  too 
young  a  man  to  have  a  right  to  talk  thus ;  he 
represents  the  views  of  current  conversation 


11 

of  his  elders,  whom  he  has  been  accustomed 
to  defer  to ;  and  although  he  does  not  feel 
quite  at  liberty  to  dissent  from  their  judg- 
ment, should  not,  perhaps,  incur  the  censure 
of  being  "  laudator  temporis  acti,"  until  his 
head  is  greyer  than  it  is  now. 

Before  the  Revolution,  there  existed  un- 
questionably an  aristocracy,  which  gave  the 
tone  to  the  colonial  society,  at  the  head  of 
which  stood  the  chief  officers  of  the  crown, 
the  highest  almost  invariably  being  of  no- 
ble family,  at  least,  of  gentle  blood ;  and 
immediately  after  them  ranked  the  most  emi- 
nent professional  characters,  the  clergy  and 
law  almost  on  the  same  footing,  and  in  ad- 
vance of  the  faculty ;  the  great  landholders, 
or  patentees ;  and  the  merchants,  of  the  first 
class.  The  bar,  however,  was  pre-eminently 
then  the  profession  of  a  gentleman,  and  the 
republican  road  to  political  influence. 

The  profession  of  the  law,  is,  and  always 
has  been,  the  leading  profession  of  the  COUIK 


try,  from  Boston  to  New  Orleans,  and  partic- 
ularly here  in  New- York, -even  in  this  com- 
mercial metropolis.  A  good  reason  for  this, 
is  found  by  the  most  sagacious  foreign  critic 
of  our  government,  De  Tocqueville,  in  the 
fact,  that  the  bar  forms  essentially  the  bul- 
wark of  political  liberties,  that  it  is  pre-emi- 
nently the  intelligent  and  fearless  defender 
of  political  rights ;  at  the  same  time,  the  true 
conservator  of  law  and  order ;  and  while  most 
in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  best  Repub- 
licanism, "  the  most  powerful  existing  security 
against  the  excesses  of  the  democracy." 

It  has  given  the  ablest  orators,  the  finest 
writers,  the  most  sagacious  statesmen,  to  the 
country.  Of  our  presidents,  we  believe,  nine 
out  of  the  twelve  had  either  been  lawyers  in 
practice,  or  at  least  read  law,  with  a  profes- 
sional object. 

The  profound  speculatist  quoted  above 
explicitly  declares,  "  If  I  were  asked  where  I 
placed  the  American  aristocracy,  I  should  re- 


13 

ply,  without  hesitation,  that  it  is  not  com- 
posed of  the  rich,  who  are  united  together  by 
no  common  tie,  but  that  it  occupies  the  judi- 
cial bench  and  the  bar." 

The  Bench  and  Bar  of  that  era,  and  of  the 
period  preceding  it,  presented  a  galaxy  of 
talent  since  unequalled.  From  an  interesting 
discourse  by  President  Duer,  before  the  St. 
Nicholas  Society,  last  winter,  we  transcribe  a 
retrospection : 

"  In  my  attendance  upon  the  courts,  I 
witnessed  some  of  the  best  efforts  of  some  of 
the  greatest  men  that  ever  adorned  the  bar. 
I  have  listened  in  blind  admiration  to  the 
black  letter  learning  of  the  elder  Samuel 
Jones,  and  with  breathless  emotion  to  the 
lucid  and  impassioned  eloquence  of  Hamilton. 
I  have  sometimes  felt  in  danger  of  fascination 
by  the  imposing  self-possession  and  sententi- 
ous brevity  of  Burr,  and  actually  captivated  by 
the  graceful  rhetoric  of  the  classic  but  sarcas- 
tic Harison,  the  candid  ingenuity  of  Brockholst 


14 

Livingston,  and  the  legal  acumen  and  Nisi 
Prius  tact  of  the  elder  Ogden  Hoffman. 
Nor  did  I  the  less  appreciate  the  more  homely, 
but  not  less  forcible,  logic  of  Cosine  and 
Troup  ;  the  special  dry  pleading  of  Caleb  S. 
Rlggs ;  or  the  elaborate  arguments  of  the  in- 
defatigable Pendleton,  my  old  master,  to  whom 
I  was  indebted,  not  merely  for  my  professional 
education,  but  for  a  friendship  extended  to1 
me  when  most  needed,  and  ending  only  with 
his  life." 

And,  also,  from  an  eloquent  and  discrimi- 
nating tribute,  by  Daniel  Lord,  Esq.,  to  the 
memory  of  Chancellor  Kent,  on  the  occasion 
of  his  decease,  at  a  meeting  of  the  bar,  Dec. 
14,  1847,  we  extract  the  following  fine  pas- 
sages : — 

"  The  Bar  who  surrounded  the  court  of 
that  day,  our  honored  predecessors,  were  men 
not  to  be  forgotten.  There  was  the  sagacious, 
the  complete  Hamilton ;  the  honest-minded 
Pendleton;  Harison,  the  learned,  the  elabo- 


13 

-rate ;  Hoffman,  that  ingenious,  polished  master 
of  the  advocate's  art;  the  deeply  learned, 
y/ide-searching  Riggs; — these  were  the  bar 
over  whom  this  youthful  judge  was  to  pre- 
side, the  conflicts  of  whom  he  was  to  govern, 
upon  whose  arguments  he  was  to  decide. 

tf  And,  coming  to  a  later  period,  there  was 
#  scarcely  less  brilliant  array  of  mighty  spirits. 
Not  daring  now  to  name  the  living,  now  pre- 
sent with  us,  (and  long  may  it  be  before  it 
shall  be  allowed  to  us  in  this  way  to  name 
them,)  let  me  bring  up  to  your  view  Emmet, 
whose  enlarged  and  extensive  learning  was 
equalled  by  his  child-like  simplicity  of  heart ; 
Golden,  the  polite  scholar,  the  speculative 
philosopher,  the  able  lawyer;  also  that  model 
of  all  that  is  venerable  in  our  memory,  Van 
Vechten,  whose  teeming  eloquence  was  Ci- 
ceronian, and  charmed  every  heart ;  the  terse, 
the  highly  gifted  Henry ;  the  younger  Jay, 
full  to  abounding  in  every  noble  trait ;  and 
that  union  of  scholar,  lawyer,  orator  and  gen- 


16 

tleman,  John  Wells.  These  were  the  men 
whom  the  times  brought  forth,  and  who  re- 
flected and  also  gave  an  illustrious  light. 

"  Look  also  at  the  bench  during  the  period 
of  which  we  speak.  The  ingenious,  polished 
Livingston ;  the  sound  and  judicious  Radcliff ; 
Thompson,  the  honest,  steady,  and  stanch 
friend  of  all  that  was  true  and  just;  Van  Ness, 
the  accomplished  man  of  genius ;  Platt,  the 
sedate,  the  sober-minded  ;  and  last,  him,  who 
in  every  trait  and  lineament,  in  every  part 
and  member,  was  every  way  a  giant,  Spencer. 
With  these  associates,  as  competitors  and  co- 
adjutors, did  Judge  Kent  dispense  justice.  To 
whom  of  them  all  was  he  unequal  ?" 

In  the  quasi  war  with  France,  Mr.  Jones 
was  first  lieutenant  in  a  volunteer  company, 
commanded  by  Peter  A.  Jay. 

About  this  time,  Mr.  Jones  was  a  member 
of  a  literary  society,  (of  which  the  late  Peter  A. 
Jay  was  president,)  composed,  among  others, 
of  Nathan  Sand  ford,  Charles  Baldwin,  John 


17 

Ferguson,  Jas.  Alexander,  Rudolph  Banner, 
Goveurneur  Ogden,  the  first  Philip  Hamilton, 
William  Bard,  Win.  A.  Duer,  Philip  Church, 
John  Duer,  and  Beverley  Robinson  ;  of  whom 
the  last  five  are  the  only  survivors. 

"  For  several  years  after  his  marriage," 
writes  President  Duer,  in  a  letter  valuable  for 
its  personal  details,  and  still  more  for  the 
generous  and  kindly  spirit  it  "breathes,  "  he 
observed  a  prudent  hut  liberal  economy  in  his 
household  and  personal  expenditure,  and  was 
rewarded  for  his  self-denial  and  forbearance 
"by  such  an  increase  of  the  fortune  he  in- 
herited,^ and  that  subsequently  acquired  by 

*  From  his  father's  marriage  into  the  Herring  family, 
he  bepame,  through  his  wife,  heir  to  a  noble  estate,  of  which 
Mr.  Jones's  share  was  large.  Of  that  property,  now  so 
valuable,  he  died  owning  not  one  foot.  He  had  made  many 
purchases,  from  time  to  time,  of  real  estate  ;  but  all  that 
he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death  lay  in  other  sections  of  the 
city.  To  give  a  general  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  old  Her- 
ring estate,  it  will  be  only  necessary  to  mention,  that  tha 
farm  enclosed  upwards  of  a  hundred  acres,  in  the  very  best 


18 

his  own  industry  and  exertions,  as  enabled 
him  freely  to  indulge  the  generous  impulses 
of  his  nature." 

The  same  true  friend  writes  thus  of  the 
personal  character  of  his  old  associate,  with 
whom  he  preserved  an  "  intimacy  cemented 
by  personal  intercourse,  and  which  soon  ri- 
pened into  mutual  esteem  and  confidence, 
uninterruptedly  continuing  for  nearly  half  a 
century.  I  had,  therefore,  ample  means  of 
knowing  the  character  of  your  father,  and  the 
more  I  learned  of  it  the  more  I  learned  to 
respect,  esteem,  and  love  him.  #  *  * 
I  can  safely  affirm,  that  froin  his  youth  his 
moral  character  was  unimpeachable,  and  that 
he  was  early  distinguished  for  that  high 
and  nice  sense  of  honor  that  accompanied 
him  through  life.  It  was,  no  doubt,  as  much 

part  of  the  city  ;  and  that,  at  the  time  of  its  division  among 
the  heirs,  in  1784,  it  ranked  as  the  second  landed  estate  in 
the  city.  The  Bayard  farm  alone  exceeded  it  in  value  :  the 
jStuyvesant  farm  was  very  far  inferior  to  it. 


19 

to  this  chivalrous  trait  as  to  his  professional 
skill,  that  he  owed  the  confidence  so  unre- 
servedly reposed-  in  him  hy  his  clients,  in 
cases  of  the  utmost  delicacy  and  importance." 

Duelling  was,  then,  a  fashion.  Custom 
had  rendered  it  imperious  to  accept  a  chal- 
lenge or  to  incur  the  penalty  of  exclusion 
from  society  in  the  event  of  a  refusal  to  fight. 
And  hardly  a  lawyer  of  respectability,  or  gen- 
tleman of  mark  at  that  day  can  be  mention- 
ed, who  had  not  been  engaged  in  an  affair  of 
the  kind. 

A  comparatively  trifling  cause  led  to  a; 
hostile  meeting  between  Mr.  Jones  and  an 
eminent  advocate,  and  which,  happily,  result- 
ed in  no  serious  injury  to  either  party.  It 
was  in  compliance  with  the  requirements 
of  public  sentiment  that  Mr.  Jones  became 
involved  in  an  encounter  of  this  nature. 
The  practice  was  then  considered  not  only 
defensible,  but  essential,  on  the  ground  of  pre- 
serving a  nice  sense  of  honor  and  of  cherish- 


20 

ing  a  delicate  regard  for  the  feelings  of  others. 
It  served  as  a  check  upon  familiarity  and 
rudeness,  and  inspired  sentiments  of  generosi- 
ty and  devotion. 

The  estimation  in  which  Duelling  was 
then  held  exists  still  in  certain  districts  of 
the  South,  where  a  condition  of  things  is  to 
fee  found  similar  to  that  which  prevailed 
here  in  New-York  formerly,  and  which  gave 
the  tone  to  the  manners  of  that  period. 

Masonry,  too,  was  then  a  fashion.  Mr. 
Jones  became  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  Master 
of  his  Lodge,  and  Templar.  In  a  prudential 
and  social  point  of  view,  this  was  a  good  school. 

"  Had  the  Institution  of  Masonry,"  says 
Dr.  Hosack,  (Memoir  of  Dewitt  Clinton.) 
"  been  otherwise  than  the  means  of  diffusing 
the  blessings  of  benificence  and  of  that  cha- 
rity, that  best  of  virtues,  that  binds  man  to 
man,  it  would  never  have  received  the  uni- 
form support  of  men  distinguished  for  their 
intelligence,  integrity,  and  piety ;  on  the  con- 


.      21 

trary,  could  it  even  tacitly  have  sanctioned 
any  departure  from  the  strictest  rules  of  recti^ 
tude  or  honor,  it  would  long  since  have  been 
abandoned  by  the  virtuous  and  wise. 

While  quite  a  young  man,  Mr.  Jones's  per- 
sonal intimates  were  Peter  A.  Jay,  Maltby 
Gelston,  Beverly  Robinson,  Rudolph  Bunner, 
Philip  Church,  William  A.  Diier,  John  Duer 
and  Elbert  Herring.  The  friends  of  his 
youth  were  the  friends  of  his  age,  and  those 
with  whom  he  had  been  early  familiar,  re- 
mained his  nearest  friends  to  his  latest  mo- 
ments. In  later  life,  the  •  names  of  John 
Wells,  and  of  Clement  C.  Moore  in  particu- 
lar, with  that  of  Peter  A  Jay,  ought  to  be 
added  to  his  list  of  near  friends. 

With  professed  authors  or  artists  he  asso- 
ciated little,  save  those  with  whom  he  had 
been  early  connected  in  New  York  society. 
Irving  and  Cooper  were  among  his  personal 
friends.  Cooper,  J;he  actor,  he  often  met  in 
society  when  young,  and  from  him  derived  a 


22 

taste  for  elocution  admirable  for  its  impres"- 
siveness  and  dignity. 

With  some  of  the  gentlemen  above  men- 
tioned, and  certain  others  with  whom  he  was 
hardly  less  intimate,  Mr.  Jones  was  connected 
in  Columbia  College  and  the  City  Library,  * 

*  The  New- York  Society  Library  is  one  of  the  few  old 
New- York  Institutions  still  remaining.  The  Charter  was 
originally  drawn  .up  by[the  Hon.  Samuel  Jones,  in  1754;  (a 
collection  having  been  in  existence  for  nearly  half  a  century 
before,  but  had  never  been  incorporated  by  an  Act  of 
the  Legislature.)  During  the  war  the  Society  was 
broken  up  and  most  of  the  Books  dispersed.  So,  that,  at 
the  peace,  only  fragments  remained  of  the  former  collection. 
A  few  years  after  the  Charter  was  confirmed  by  a  special 
Act,  since  which  time  the  advancement  of  the  Library  has 
been  steady.  With  the  exception  of  a  locum  tenens  of  one 
year,  and  a  longer  interregnum,  during  the  minority  of  the 
present  able  and  worthy  Librarian,  when  his  uncle  occupied 
the  office,  the  duties  of  it  have  been  fulfilled  by  father  and 
son,  exclusively,  since  its  creation.  For  both  of  these  gen- 
tlemen Mr.  Jones  entertained  a  strong  feeling  of  esteem  and 
confidence,  which  was  warmly  repaid  by  a  genuine  feeling 
of  respect  and  admiration. — This  Library  has  been,  and 


23 

(of  which  his  father  had  drawn  up  the  origi- 
nal charter,)  two  old  New- York  Institutions, 
as  Trustee ;  in  the  former  Institution,  from 
1820  to  the  day  of  his  death;  and  in  the  lat- 
ter, from  1817  to  1836,  with  the  intermission 
of  two  years — 1832-34. 

A  list  of  Mr.  Jones's  intimate  associates, 
(which  should  also  number  all  of  his  clients, 
who  adhered  to  him  through  a  long  career, 
and  cherished  a  strong  personal  regard,  be- 
side the  early  friends  he  never  forsook  during 
middle  life  and  up  to  the  day  of  his  death,) 
would  embrace  the  names  of  the  first  lawyers 
of  his  time,  and  the  foremost  public  characters 
of  the  day  in  politics,  the  church,  and  general 
society. 

With  regard  to  the  intercourse  that  sub- 
sisted between  his  most  attached  and  confi- 

should  remain,  the  City  Library,  and  ought  to  be  liberally" 
sustained  by  prominent  and  wealthy  individuals.     It  pro- 
perly serves  as    an  upper    college   to  the   alumnus,  and 
unites  also  an  agreeable  resort  for  the  general  reader. 


24 

dential  friends  among  these,  and  himself,  we 
may  quote  the  remark  of  Emerson — "  I  know 
nothing  which  life  has  to  offer  so  satisfying 
as  the  profound  good  understanding  which 
can  subsist,  after  much  interchange  of  good 
offices,  between  two  virtuous  men,  each  of 
whom  is  sure  of  himself  and  of  his  friend." 

With  regard  to  the  efficiency  and  value  of 
his  labors  in  the  College  Board  of  Trustees,  we 
quote  the  emphatic  language  of  ex-President 
Duer,  which  occurs  in  an  address  before  the 
alumni,  July  24, 1848,  critically  just  and  warm 
from  his  heart : — "  There  are  others  more  re- 
cently deceased,  who  in  their  lives  acquired 
an  honorable  fame,  and  in  their  deaths  were 
deeply  honored  by  their  contemporaries — a 
second  Jay,  an  Ogden,  and  a  Jones  # — 
all  of  the  same  profession,  and  pursuing 
the  same  walks  in  it ;  preferring  its  more  reT 
tired  and  confidential,  to  its  more  prominent 

*  Peter  A.  Jay,  Thos.  L.  Ogden,  and  David  S.  Jpnes,  Esqs. 


25 

and  litigious  paths.  The  intercourse  and 
sympathies  of  business  drew  closer  between 
them  the  ties  of  personal  friendship.  They 
were  more  than  able  lawyers — they  were 
Christian  gentlemen  and  scholars ;  and  in 
their  lives  and  deaths  exemplified  those  cha- 
racters. They  were  not  only  among  the  most 
meritorious  of  the  Alumni  of  this  College,  but 
among  the  most  useful  and  active  of  its  trus- 
tees ;  and  the  counsel  and  support  I  received 
from  them  in  its  superintendence  vividly  ex- 
cited my  gratitude,  encouraged  me  in  diffi- 
culty, brightened  the  chain  of  mutual  friend- 
ship that  had  existed  between  us  from  early 
youth,  and  justify,  whilst  they  prompt,  this 
passing  tribute  to  their  memory."  (Page  25.) 
And  in  a  paragraph  of  the  address  before  the 
St.  Nicholas  Society,  December  1,  1848,  the 
following  generous  tribute  occurs,  prompted 
by  the  cordial  friendship  of  the  same  distin- 
guished gentleman,  to  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Jones.  The  orator  had  been  recording  the 


26 

deaths  of  associates  of  the  society  during  the 
past  year.  "  The  other,  (David  S.  Jones,)  a 
chivalrous  and  polished  gentleman,  a  kind- 
hearted  and  devoted  friend,  and  a-  skilful  prac- 
titioner in  the  more  private  and  confidential, 
though  not  less  arduous  and  responsible, 
branches  of  the  law." 

From  early  manhood,  Mr.  Jones  >  was  a 
churchman  and  a  federalist ;  though,  at  one 
period,  so  infrequent  in  his  attendance  at 
church,  that  Bishop  Hohart,  who  admired  him 
extremely,  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  him, 
for  his  zeal  and  liberality,  as  a  pillar  of  the 
Church,  but  an  outside  pillar.  When  at  his 
country  seat  on  Long  Island,  however,  his 
attendance  was  more  constant,  and  he  was 
generally  seen  every  Sunday  morning,  in  his 
pew  in  St.  George's  Church ;  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Carmichael,  Hempstead,  then  rector.  uFor 
many  years  (from  1821-29  inclusive,  with 
the  exception  of  the  year  1822)  he  was  a  lay 
delegate  from  St.  Mark's  Church,  New- York, 


27 

to  the  Diocesan  Convention.  He  was  a  trus- 
tee of  the  General  Theological  Seminary  from 
its  final  establishment  in  New- York  in  1822. 

At  the  time  of  his  decease  he  was  senior 
warden  of  St.  Saviour's  Church  at  Maspeth, 
L.  I.,  which  church  he  contributed  greatly  to 
establish. 

In  politics,  too,  though  he  took  a  decided 
stand,  he  was  anything  but  a  politician,  in 
the  common  sense,  for  he  always  preferred 
any  sacrifice  of  ordinary  advantages,  rather 
than  resign  his  personal  independence.  Once 
only,  we  believe,  he,  in  common  with  others 
of  the  same  political  faith,  voted  for  the  de- 
mocratic candidate  for  President.  If  we  do 
not  mistake,  he  voted  for  General  Jackson, 
impressed  as  he  was.  by  the  force  and  energy 
of  his  personal  character,  which  he  could  not 
but  admire. 

Mr.  Jones  held  few  public  offices — but  we 
shall  mention  that  in  1812-13  he  was  ap- 
pointed Corporation  Attorney,  an  office  then, 


28 

perhaps,  of  greater  labor  and  responsibility 
than  at  present.  About  this  time,  or  a  little 
earlier,  probably  in  1806,  during  the  first  pro- 
fessional visit  of  the  artist  to  New  York,  his 
portrait  was  painted  by  Sully,  one  of  his  ear- 
liest pictures  in  New- York,  and  a  spirited 
head  full  of  power.  * 

He  was  married  three  times  —  first,  to 
Margaret  Jones,  of  an  entirely  distinct  family, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas  Jones,  t  and  grand-- 

*  This  head,  considered  by  many  as  a  defective  like- 
ness, the  writer  had  intended  to  procure  an  engraving  of, 
but  desisted,  in  compliance  with  the  opinion  of  those  who 
knew  the  original,  early  in  life,  and  who  pronounced  it  un- 
faithful as  a  resemblance. 

•f  Dr.  THOMAS  JONES  was,  perhaps,  more  eminent  as  a 
whig  than  as  a  physician.  He  was  a  man  of  fortune,  had 
married  a  Livingston,  and  afterwards  confined  his  practice 
very  much  to  his  family  connexions.  He  was  a  brother  of 
Dr.  John  Jones  of  Philadelphia,  of  revolutionary  celebrity  ; 
and  both  were  distinguished  among  their  contemporaries  as 
scholars  and  gentlemen. — From  "  Reminiscenes  of  an  Old 
New  Yorker,"  number  five,  a  series  of  capital  papers,  full 


29 

daughter  of  Philip  Livingston,  the  Signer,  one 
of  whose  sisters  became,  afterwards,  the  se- 
cond wife  of  De  Witt  Clinton.  Second,  to 
Susan  Le  Roy,  daughter  of  Herman  Le  Roy, 
of  the  old  firm  of  Le  Roy,  Bayard  &  Co., 
whose  younger  sister  became  the  second  wife 
of  Daniel  Webster ;  and  third,  to  Mary  Clin- 
ton, eldest  daughter  of  De  Witt  Clinton. 

By  these  several  marriages  Mr.  Jones  had 
eighteen  children,  of  whom  nine  are  now 
living. 

of  character  and  incident,  and  pleasant  retrospection,  pub- 
lished in  the  American  Mail  during  the  months  of  June, 
July,  and  August,  1847. 

Dr.  JOHN  JONES,  "  ever  to  be  remembered  as  a  physi- 
cian to  Washington,  and  the  surgeon  to  Franklin." — Dr. 
J.  W.  Francis — Anniversary  Discourse  before  the  New- 
York  Academy  of  Medicine. 

Dr.  Jones  was  one  of  the  first  Professors  of  Surgery  in 
Columbia  (N.  Y.,)  College,  under  the  Royal  Charter,  1767- 
1776;  and  also  one  of  the  Founders  of  the  New- York  Hos- 
pital. He  was  a  medical  writer  of  some  eminence,  and  a 
prominent  politician.  His  life  has  been  written  by  Dr. 

Mease,  Dr.  J.  W.  Francis,  in  Ency.  Americana,  &<r. 
5 


30 

After  a  long  and  laborious  professional 
life,  (of  nearly  fifty  years,  including  the  years 
after  his  return  to  the  bar,)  Mr.  Jones  left 
the  city  of  New- York,  April  1836,  to  realize 
a  project  cherished  from  his  youth,  of  passing 
his  latest  years  in  retirement,  amid  the  favo- 
rite scenes  of  his  boyhood,  and  on  the  pater- 
nal soil.  He  bought  an  extensive  property, 
on  which  he  built  a  noble  mansion,  and 
made  many  and  judicious  improvements. 
He  called  his  domain  Massapequa,  after  the 
Indian  name  of  the  region.  But  owing  to 
disastrous  circumstances,  the  fall  of  real 
estate,  and  consequent  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ment, he  lost  heavily ;  gave  up  the  place, 
and  returned  to  town  and  to  the  practice 
of  his  profession  during  the  winter  of 
1840. 

Few  men  have  displayed  equal  manli- 
ness in  meeting  a  change  of  fortune :  at 
once  he  made  an  alteration  in  his  style  of 
living,  and  applied  himself  to  business  with 


31 

the  diligence  of  a  young  practitioner  commen- 
cing his  career.  Just  previously  he  had  been 
appointed  Judge  of  his  native  county,  which 
office  he  retained  hut  one  year.  Subsequently 
he  'received  the  title  of  LL.  D,,  from  Alle- 
ghany  College,  Meadville,  Pa. 

In  the  country  he  occupied  himself  chiefly 
with  building  and  laying  out  his  grounds. 
He  was  fond  of  making  designs,  and  had  the 
eye  and  judgment  of  a  good  architect.  These 
employments  kept  him  much  in  the  open 
air,  and  stood  in  place  of  the  more  customary 
rural  occupations.  The  only  country  amuse- 
ment, out  of  doors,  he  cared  for,  was  trout  fish- 
ing ;  a  legal  sport,  involving  an  exercise  of  the 
meditative  subtilty,  congenial  to  the  mind  of 
an  equity  lawyer  and  conveyancer.  "  Idle 
time,"  as  Sir  Henry  "Wotton  says,  "  not  idly 
spent."  To  indulge  this  taste,  he  had  formed 
a  noble  pond,  almost  a  lake,  from  a  small 
^tream,  the  Massapequa  Brook,  *  that  ran 
*  MASSAPEQUA. — The  name  of  this  Brook  is  an  obvious 


32 

through  his  farm.  Exercise,  in  the  common 
sense,  Mr.  Jones  never  took.  At  no  period 
of  his  life  a  pedestrian,  and  though  fond  of 
horses  in  earlier  years,  yet  latterly  compara- 
tively indifferent  about  eithjer  riding  or  driving. 
In  his  house  the  apostolic  injunction  of 
hospitality  was  now,  as  ever,  fully  carried 

memorial  of  the  Massapequa  Tribe,  who  formerly  occupied 
this  territory.  It  is  said  that  the  import  of  this  name  has 
been  recently  ascertained,  and  is  supposed  to  have  origina- 
ted from  the  exclamation  of  so^rne  child  of  the  forest,  who 
after  slaking  his  thirst^  in  the  purling  stream,  arose  from 
his  hands  and  knees,  with  this  expression — "MASSAPEQUA  ; 
I  have  drank  enough,  and  more  than  enough." — Prime's 
History  of  Long  Island. 

The  Massapequa,  or  Marsapeague  Tribe,  had  their 
principal  settlement  at  the  place  called  Fort  Neck  ;  and 
from  thence  eastward  to  the  bounds  of  Islip,  and  north  to 
the  middle  of  the  Island ;  being  the  usual  boundary  of  all 
the  tribes  by  a  kind  of  common  consent.  The  only  remarka- 
ble battle  between  the  whites  and  Indians  was  fought  with 
this  tribe,  when  their  fort  was  taken  and  demolished  by  a 
force  under  the  command  of  Captain  John  Underbill,  about 
the  year  1653. —  Thompson. 


33 

out.  He  always  loved  to  see  a  house  and  table 
full  of  guests,  whom  he  well  knew  how  to 
entertain. 

For  the  south  side  of  Long  Island,  as  his 
birth-place  and  the  seat  of  his  ancestors  for 
several  generations,  he  cherished  from  boy- 
hood a  peculiar  predilection.  Strangers  gene- 
rally find  it  uninteresting :  it  is  remarkably 
level,  and  lacks  variety :  being  near  the  sea, 
it  has  few  trees,  and  is  altogether  unpicturesque. 
But  it  had  its  distinctive  charms  for  Mr.  Jones. 
He  greatly  preferred  a  champaign  to  a  hilly 
country,  in  all  probability  from  early  associa- 
tion, and  partly,  no  doubt,  from  the  character 
of  his  mind,  which  was  comprehensive  and 
liberal.  A  pleasing  sense  of  solitude  and  re- 
moteness from  the  bustle  of  the  city,  "  the 
busy  hum  of  men  ;"  the  bracing  salt  air,  de- 
lightfully cool  in  summer,  and  invigorating 
at  all  seasons  ;  the  admirable  roads  ;  to  say 
nothing  of  the  warm  hospitality  of  the  family 
connexions,  and  a  common  local  interest  in 


34 

the  place ;  rendered  it  an  agreeable  residence 
for  several  years. 

The  last  four  or  five  years  of  Mr.  Jones's 
life  were  divided  between  his  town  residence 
and  his  country  seat  at  Maspeth,  (the  former 
seat  of  De  Witt  Clinton.)  It  is  a  charming 
spot,  cool  and  sequestered,  overshadowed  by 
noble  trees,  and  situated  in  the  midst  of  a 
pleasant  country.  Mr.  Jones  employed  him- 
self here  as  at  his  former  place,  Massapequa, 
though  upon  a  very  much  smaller  scale.  One 
of  his  very  latest  wishes  was  to  visit  this  place, 
and  he  confidently  expected  to  become  well 
enough  to  go  there  for  the  summer,  only  a  day 
pr  two  before  his  death ;  while,  indeed,  he 
was  dying. 

He  died  Wednesday,  May  10, 1848,  in  his 
7 1st  year,  at  his  residence,  77  Fifteenth-street, 
after  a  very  brief  illness.  He  had  been  at  his 
office  on  the  previous  Saturday,  but  looking 
miserably,  and,  as  he  confessed,  feeling  far 
from  well.  Yet  neither  his  family  nor  himT 


35 

self  had  the  least  conception  of  the  nearness 
of  his  death.  A  violent  cold,  giving  rise  to  a 
peculiar  affection  of  the  throat  and  lungs, 
(Typhoid  pneumonia,  according  to  Dr.  J.  W. 
Francis,  and  fatal  in.  three  days,)  acting  upon 
an  exhausted  frame,  was  the  proximate  cause 
of  his  decease.  Anxiety  of  mind,  in  relation 
to  business  concerns,  in  particular,  had  a  large 
share  in  hastening  the  progress  of  his  disease, 
which  was  fearfully  rapid. 

During  his  illness  he  uttered  not  a  com- 
plaint :  having  little  or  no  faith  in  medicine, 
he  occupied  his  mind  with  matters  of  serious 
import  and  reflection ;  though,  up  to  within  a 
few  hours  only  of  his  departure,  he  had  no 
idea  of  its  extreme  closeness.  He  suffered 
comparatively  little  (to  all  appearance)  in 
body,  except  from  extreme  debility,  and  his 
mind  was  unclouded  and  clear  to  the  last. 
His  death  was  without  ostentation,  though 
marked  by  an  unaffected  dignity. 


36 

"  And  which  is  best  and  happiest  yet,  all  this, 
With  God  not  parted  from  him, 
But  favoring  and  assisting  to  the  end. 
Nothing  is  here  for  tears,  nothing  to  wail, 
Or  knock  the  breast ;  no  weakness,  no  contempt, 
Dispraise  or  blame — nothing  but  well  and  fair, 
And  what  may  quiet  us,  in  a  death  so  noble." 

He  was  happy  in  the  circumstances  of  his 
death  :  it  came  with  comparative  suddenness. 
But  when  is  death  other  than  sudden,  how- 
ever long  expected  ?  It  almost  always  gives 
a  shock.  This  mode  of  death  he  had  always 
desired,  and  used  to  say  that  he  could  not 
join  heartily  in  that  petition  of  the  Litany 
against  "  sudden  death."  The  noble  passages 
of  Shakspeare  against  fear  of  death  were  among 
his  favorite  quotations.  (Julius  Gsesar,  act 
in.,  scene  2nd,  and  Measure  for  Measure,  act 
iii.,  scene  1st.)  He  would  die,  if  Heaven 
pleased,  with  no  long  illness  preceding  ;  not 
enfeebled  by  age  and  misery ;  in  full  vigor  of 
mind ;  with  manly  decorum.  The  infirmities 
of  age  he  dreaded,  and  never  lived  to  experi- 


37 

ence.  Death-bed  repentance  with  the  wisest 
and  best  he  justly  held  to  be  doubtful  and 
tardy;  that  a  man  would  be  judged  by  the 
general  tenor  of  his  life  and  conduct:  and 
that  when  it  came  to  the  last,  we  were  in  the 
merciful  hands  of  our  Almighty  Father,  on 
whose  providence  we  might  safely  rely,  if 
seriously  repentant.  He  thus  died,  himself 
realising  the  motto  of  the  Jones  family — 
"  Trust  in  God." 

Premature  burial  alone  he  ever  expressed 
a  natural  horror  of;  and  his  request,  stated 
repeatedly  for  years  previous,  that  his  body 
should  be  kept  for  three  full  days  and  three 
nights,  was  observed  beyond  the  letter.  He 
expired  Wednesday,  May"  10,  seven  A.M.,  and 
was  buried  the  succeeding  Saturday,  five  P.M. 

His  funeral  was  "  an  old  New- York  fu- 
neral," as  some  one  remarked  at  the  time, 
and  attended  by  the  best  portion  of  the  bar. 
The  pall  bearers  were — Professor  Clement  C. 

Moore,  LL.D.,  Hon.  John  L.  Lawrence,  Hon, 
6 


38 

John  Duer,  Hon.  David  B.  Ogden,  Hon.  Philip 
Hone,  Hon.  John  A.  King,  General  Edward 
W.  Laight,  and  Beverly  Robinson,  Esq. 

The  full  funeral  services  were  performed 
by  Rev.  Drs.  Seabury  and  Wainwright,  and 
Rev.  Messrs.  Southard  and  Walsh,  in  St. 
Mark's  Church.  His  body  was  deposited  in 
the  family  vault  in  the  churchyard. 

After  the  admirable  characters  drawn  of 
Mr.  Jones,  and  which  appeared  shortly  after 
his  decease,  it  would  seem  almost  a  work  of 
supererogation  to  attempt  any  thing  further  of 
the  same  kind.  This  the  present  writer  has 
no  thought  of  doing ;  but  even  so  slight  a 
sketch  as  the  foregoing  appears  to  demand  a 
few  words  in  addition,  to  be  derived  from 
personal  reminiscence. 

To  preserve  the  truth  of  portraiture,  it  is 
but  just  to  display  the  different  qualities  of 
the  same  character ;  and,  to  obviate  the  cen- 
sure of  those  who  may  consider  concealment 
of  even  venial  faults  to  be  equally  a  defect 


39 

with  over-praise,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  speak 
of  the  defects  of  his  character. 

Vices  he  had  none  ;  of  meanness  he  was 
utterly  incapable ;  but  he  had  his  weaknesses, 
and  a  portion  of  those  failings,  some  (more  or 
less)  of  which  fall  to  the  lot  of  every  human 
being.  In  temper  Mr.  Jones  was  quick  and 
irritable,  the  effect  of  temperament,  and  the 
accompaniment  of  a  generous  and  impulsive 
character ;  but  malice  or  illiberality  found  no 
place  in  his  heart.  Though  choleric  and  hasty, 
he  was  prompt  to  atone  for  the  least  error  of 
speech  or  act ;  and  sought  to  repair  the  ill 
effect,  even  of  unconscious  prejudice.  Self- 
consideration  he  appeared  sometimes  to  carry 
to  excess ;  but  his  frank,  genial  egotism  could 
offend  none  who  knew  his  genuine  merit. 
Like  most  cordial  men,  he>  often  talked  freely 
of  his  affairs  and  opinions,  and  seemed  to  lay 
too  much  stress  upon  them ;  but  his  vanity 
never  exposed  him  to  assumption  of  undue 
importance.  He  occupied  no  position  the 


40 

duties  of  which  he  did  not  exactly  fulfil.  He 
rated  himself  justly ;  though  he  could  not  but 
feel  an  instinctive  superiority  within  himself 
over  the  majority  of  mankind. 

He  was  proud,  and  with  good  reason,  of 
his  family,  his  profession,  his  standing  in  it 
and  in  society,  and  of  his  chosen  friends. 
Content  with  the  esteem  and  affection  of  these, 
he  cared  little  for  popular  applause,  (much  as 
he  was  gratified  by  the  just  and  cordial  ap- 
probation of  the  wise  and  the  good,)  and  was 
perhaps  a  little  careless  in  expressing  his  low 
estimate  of  it.  Hence,  he  passed  with  many 
for  a  proud  and  haughty  man.  That  he  was, 
in  truth,  very  far  removed  from  this  character, 
we  may  appeal  to  the  best  witnesses,  the 
friends  of  his  youth,  the  friends  of  his  man- 
hood and  of  his  latest  years.  Of  the  features 
of  his  character,  on  which  they  have  expati- 
ated, and  with  so  much  sincerity  and  warmth, 
and  generous  devotion  to  his  memory,  we 
shall  not  attempt  to  draw  a  sketch ;  only 


41 

adding  our  personal  testimony  to  the  perfect 
genuineness  of  the  picture,  painted  in  such 
lively  and  lasting  colors. 

Mr.  Jones  was  eminently  a  lover  of  home, 
its  quiet  and  comforts.  Except,  however,  at 
dinner,  he  saw  little  of  his  family,  as  most  of 
his  time  was  spent  in  his  study,  (this  was 
more  especially  the  case  before  he  left  town, 
in  1836,  for  Long  Island,)  hard  at  work,  often 
protracting  his  labors  until  late  in  the  night. 
His  habit  was  to  sit  at  least  an  hour  at  dinner, 
at  which  he  loved  to  indulge  in  conversation. 
He  talked  much  and  well,  with  readiness, 
spirit,  and  variety  of  resources.  His  table  was 
a  school  for  his  children,  where  he  sought  not 
only  to  teach  the  minute  decencies  of  etiquette, 
but  took  occasion  to  impress  principles  and 
lessons  of  manly  duty  and  generous  conduct, 
which  he  illustrated  in  his  own  life. 

As  a  host  he  was  unrivalled.  Few  men 
could  so  skilfully  harmonize  the  sometimes 
discordant  materials  of  a  large  formal  dinner. 


42 

He  knew  the  proper  place  of  eyery  guest,  and 
gave  him  that  attention  and  courtesy  which 
was  his  due. 

But  his  dinners,  professional  or  general, 
were  so  managed  as  seldom  to  require  tact  of 
this  kind  ;  and  without  effort,  at  the  head  of 
his  table,  among  chosen  friends,  he  was  gay, 
friendly,  and  sincere. 

All  the  minor  accomplishments  of  an  ac- 
complished gentleman  were  possessed  by  him, 
and  served  to  fill  up  the  intervals  of  repose 
or  recreation  from  business. 

The  dependents  of  his  bounty  never  felt 
the' weight  of  obligation  from  his  ungracious- 
ness or  assumption.  In  giving  aid  or  counsel, 
generosity  of  spirit,  and  considerate  manner 
always  accompanied  a  generous  act. 

He  was  beloved  by  his  personal  atten- 
dants, with  whom,  without  art,  and  in  spite 
of  occasional  defects  of  temper,  he,  in  almost 
every  case,  became  an  object  of  admiration  as 
well  as  of  gratitude. 


43 

The  personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Jones' 
was  commanding1,  emphatically  that  of  a  gen- 
tleman. His  head  was  cast  in  a  classic 
mould,  and  his  features  finely  cut.  His  eye 
was  remarkable  for  intelligence  and  expres- 
siveness ;  it  combined  sweetness  with  spirit, 
and  reflected  every  emotion  of  his  soul.  His 
figure  was  above  the  ordinary  height,  and 
so  formed  that  all  the  movements  of  it  were 
graceful  without  design.  His  carriage  was 
stately,  his  manners  dignified,  and  his  pres- 
ence noble. 

His  voice  was  uncommonly  clear,  deep/ 
and  sonorous,  well  adapted  to  grave  oratory, 
and  had  not  his  legal  genius  taken  a  different 
bent,  and  the  important  trusts  confided 
to  him,  engrossed  his  attention,  he  migHt 
have  attained  the  first  rank  of  forensic  repu- 
tation. As  it  was,  he  was  an  impressive 
speaker,  especially  in  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
or  before  the  Bench  of  the  higher  Courts. 

His  reading  was  eminently  fine,  spirited-, 


44 

and  impressive,  (lacking,  perhaps,  a  little  in 
flexibility  of  tone,)  especially  in  the  Bible 
and  Shakespeare;  the  pointed  couplets  of 
Dryden  and  Pope,  he  gave  with  effect.  In  or- 
dinary conversation,  the  tones  of  his  voice 
were  varied  and  musical. 

Mr.  Jones  was  thoroughly  well  read  in 
Shakespeare  and  the  English  poets,  from  Dry- 
den  down,  and,  in  a  word,  he  had  that  ac- 
quaintance with  classical  and  modem  litera- 
ture, with  history  and  the  topics  of  general 
good  conversation,  possessed  by  well  educated 
gentlemen  of  his  own  standing.  In  the  current 
literature  of  the  day,  except  in  the  very  light- 
est works  of  amusement,  he  took  little  inter- 
est. And  the  very  modern  poetry  had  little 
attractions  for  him.  His  reading  lay  more 
•peculiarly  among  the  Augustan  writers  of 
Anne  and  George  III.  For  purely  Belles-let- 
tres studies,  since  early  manhood,  he  had  not 
found  time;  and  except  for  a  few  masterly 
writers,  hardly  retained  a  predilection. 


45 

His  opinions  on  moral,  political,  social, 
and  religious  questions  were  invariably  sound 
and  just.     He  took   up  no   idea  or  theory 
hastily ;    had  no  crude  fancies.      His  mind 
was  eminently  practical  and  clear.    No  man 
of  his  class  and  rank,  spoke  or  wrote  with 
less  irrelevancy  or  with  less  of  point  and  di- 
rectness.    His  letters  were  altogether  occu- 
pied with  business  :  (Mr.  Jones  had  no  taste 
for  original   composition;   he  had  travelled 
little ;  only  on  occasions  of  business,  and  on 
the  fashionable  excursions  of  summer  tourists,) 
and  he  preferred  talking  upon  politics  and 
about  books  and  individuals,  to  writing  on 
either  of  those  subjects.     Hence  the  material 
of  his  correspondence  is  wanting  in  general 
interest.     The  style  of  his  letters  was  brief, 
pointed,  and  direct.     He  was  peculiarly  direct 
and  perspicuous  in  his  law  papers,  also :  which 
were  models  of  their  kind.   In  his  case,  chiro- 
graphy  served  as  a  true  test  of  character,  and 
which  was  marked  by  decision  and  strength. 


46 

We  do  not  know  that  we  can  better  con- 
clude this  brief  sketch  than  by  quoting  the 
following  admirable  portraiture  of  Mr.  Jones 
in  his  judicial  character,  from  the  pen  of  A. 
J.  Spooner,  Esq.,  well  known  both  at  the 
New- York  and  Long  Island  Bars,  and  also,  in 
his  connexion  with  the  Brooklyn  Star,  for  cour- 
tesy, intelligence,  and  genuine  worth  : — 

"In  his  character  as  judge  he  had  one 
merit,  which  is  always  a  leading  qualifica- 
tion— decision.  He  invariably  decided  every 
thing  submitted  to  him  while  the  matter  was 
freshly  in  mind ;  and  I  do  not  recollect  an  in- 
stance where  for  any  reason  he  kept  hope  de- 
ferred, or  delayed  to  pronounce  a  judgment 
for  fear  of  offence.  His  mind  was  eager,  his 
attention  close,  his  conclusions  rapid,  and 
promptly  uttered,  with  the  reasons  which  en- 
forced them.  I  have  no  recollection  of  any 
judgments  of  his  which  were  found  to  be 
erroneous  on  review.  I  had  the  opinion — and 
this,  I  know,  was  entertained  by  several  of 


47 

the  Bar  of  Queens — that  his  former  exclusive 
devotion  to  chancery  practice  had  left  him 
more  limited  in  the  ready  knowledge  of  the 
common  law  and  its  practice  than  would 
otherwise  have  been  the  case.  A  strong  lean- 
ing towards  equity  would  always  manifest 
itself;  though,  when  the  rule  of  law  was  ren- 
dered clear  hy  authority,  he  was  ready  to 
admit  and  adopt  it.  Had  he  lived  in  the  day 
of  the  present  reformed  practice  of  the  courts, 
his  attainments  upon  the  Bench  would  have 
found  wider  scope,  and  been  generally  ac- 
knowledged. 

"  One  thing  is  certain.  On  the  County 
Bench,  no  sinister  influence  dared  approach 
Judge  Jones.  I  believe  his  integrity  to  have 
been  perfectly  crystalline,  and  it  gave  him 
the  confidence  of  the  Bar  and  of  the  county. 

"  There  was,  it  is  true,  a  seeming  imperi- 
ousness  and  self-will  about  Judge  Jones.  It 
was  difficult  for  him  to  submit  his  judgment 
to  that  of  the  lay  members  of  the  Bench,  in 


48 

a  very  few  cases  where  they  overruled  him: 
He  did  not  hesitate,  however,  to  pronounce 
their  judgment  courteously,  while  he  expressed 
his  own  dissent,  and  his  self-love  soon  relaxed 
into  the  most  cordial  kindness  and  good  will. 
"  He  was  most  careful  to  enforce  and-  pre- 
serve all  the  decencies  and  proprieties  of  a 
court  of  justice.  He  was  rigorous  in  exacting 
of  grand  jurors  and  others  a  strict  attention 
to  their  duties.  He  evidently  desired  fully 
and  conscientiously  to  do  his  duty ;  and  I  do 
not  know  that  in  his  hrief  judicial  career  he 
was  ever  charged  with,  or  suspected  of,  sacri- 
ficing the  public  business  to  his  own  private 
affairs,  or  an  inclination  to  consult  his  own 


ease." 


OBITUAEY   NOTICES 


OBITUABY  NOTICES. 


From  Courier  and  Inquirer,  (C.  KING,  Esq.)  MAY  llth, 

1848. 

IN  announcing  the  decease  of  David  S.  Jones, 
we  are  called  upon  to-day  to  record  the  death 
of  an  old  and  valued  friend,  of  an  able  and 
upright  lawyer,  of  a  zealous  and  spirited 
citizen,  of  a  man  of  honor,  and  a  gentleman, 
in  all  the  best  acceptations  of  these  words. 
Mr.  Jones  was  so  widely  known  as  to  render 
any  general  notice  of  his  career  superfluous. 
Identified  with  this  city  from  his  earliest 
youth,  taking  a  deep  interest  in  its  prosper- 
ity and  improvement,  and  himself  largely 
interested  therein,  he  has  witnessed,  and  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  its  growth,  from  a 
village  to  a  metropolis. 


As  a  lawyer,  and  especially  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  legal  instruments,  upon  the  accuracy 
and  fidelity  of  which  the  rights  of  property 
so  largely  repose,  Mr.  Jones  was  of  approved 
skill,  caution,  and  regularity,  and  he  wasjjon- 
sequently  widely  consulted  and  employed. 
In  the  higher  departments,  too,  of  the  profes- 
sion, as  advocate  and  counsel,  his  practice 
was  large  ;  and  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties 
as  a  lawyer,  not  less  than  in  the  daily  inter- 
course of  life,  he  was  guided  invariably  by 
the  same  high  principles.  He  stooped  to  no 
unworthy  or  questionable  practices,  and  was 
as  incapable  of  trick  as  of  treachery.  A  man 
©f  sound  understanding,  of  strong  attach- 
ments, of  most  liberal  and  generous  conduct, 
of  frankness  and  manly  speech,  of  approved 
integrity,  and  acting  always  under  a  lofty 
and  conscientious  sense  of  duty  to  God  and  to 
man,  he  has  left  behind  him  on  earth  not  one 
of  whom,  more  truly  than  himself,  can  be  said, 
there  was  a  MAN. 


53 


FROM  Commercial  Advertiser,  MAY  13,  1847. 

"  THE  LATE  DAVID  S.  JONES. — At  a  meeting 
of  the  Bar  of  the  city  of  New- York,  called  for 
the  purpose  of  testifying  their  respect  for  the 
memory  of  their  deceased  friend  and  brother, 
David  S.  Jones — whose  funeral  is  to  he  at- 
tended to-day — David  B.  Ogden,  Esq.,  was 
called  to  the  chair ;  George  Griffin,  George 
Wood,  Beverly  Robinson,  and  David  Codwise, 
Esqs.,  were  appointed  vice-presidents ;  and 
Francis  B.  Cutting,  J.  Prescott  Hall,  and 
James  Lorimer  Graham,  Esqs.,  secretaries. 

Mr.  Duer,^  from  the  committee  appointed 
at  a  previous  meeting  of  the  Bar  for  that  pur- 
pose, reported  the  resolutions  that  follow, 
which  he  introduced  with  some  appropriate 
remarks  in  relation  to  the  professional  and 
personal  character  of  the  deceased. 

He  spoke,  in  substance,  as  follows : 

*  Hon.  John  Duer,  at  present  one  of  the  Judges  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  this  city. 
8 


54 

"We  have  lost,  Mr.  Chairman,  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  valued  of  our  personal  friends, 
and  the  Bar  one  of  its  most  esteemed  and 
honorahle  members — David  S.  Jones.  We 
are  now  assembled  to  testify  our  respect  to 
his  memory,  and  for  that  purpose  I  have  been 
instructed  to  offer  a  series  of  resolutions,  that 
I  doubt  not  will  be  found  to  express  the  sen- 
timents of  all  who  are  present.  Before  the 
resolutions  are  read,  however,  there  are  a  very 
few  words  that  I  wish  to  say.  I  do  not  mean 
to  offer  a  formal  eulogy  on  our  deceased  friend, 
but  there  is  a  tribute  of  praise  to  which  he  is 
most  justly  entitled,  and  which,  as  one  of  the 
oldest  of  his  friends,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  ren- 
der. I  shall  not  dwell  upon  his  professional 
merits  and  attainments,  but  I  am  sure  that 
all  to  whom  he  was  as  well  known  as  to  you 
and  to  myself,  will  bear  me  out  in  saying, 
that  as  an  equity  lawyer,  and  a  real-property 
lawyer,  he  had  few  superiors  in  our  profession. 

"  There  was  none  to  whom  the  difficult 


55 

and  responsible  task  of  drawing  a  complex 
will,  or  an  intricate  marriage  or  family  settle- 
ment, could  be  more  safely  entrusted.  There 
was  no  man  more  cautious  and  vigilant  in 
watching  over  the  interests  of  his  clients  ; 
none  who  had  a  deeper  sense  of  the  responsi- 
bility which  the  relation  of  lawyer  and  client 
creates ;  none  who  was  more  conscientious, 
more  arduous,  or  more  faithful  in  discharging 
the  duties  which  the  relation  imposes.  But 
it  was  chiefly  of  his  personal  qualities  that  I 
meant  to  speak,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  there 
is  a  single  word,  that,  properly  and  fully  un- 
derstood, will  be  found  to  express  his  character 
— the  character  that  all  admitted  him  to  pos- 
sess, and  which,  throughout  his  life,  and  under 
all  circumstances,  he  uniformly  sustained. 

"  David  S.  Jones  was  emphatically  a  gen- 
tleman. He  was  so  in  the  truest  and  fullest 
sense  of  the  term.  I  mean  that  he  was  not 
merely  a  man  of  polished  manners,  attentive 
to  the  best  forms  and  observances  of  society, 


56 

but  that  his  feelings  were  pure  and  lofty,  his 
sentiments  refined  and  elevated — I  mean  that 
he  was  a  man  of  a  delicate  sense  of  honor,  of 
stainless  integrity  and  perfect  truth.  Nor  was 
this  all :  he  was  a  man  of  warm  and  generous 
affections — of  strong  and  enduring  attach- 
ments— exemplary  in  all  the  private  relations 
of  life,  and  to  those  who  possessed  his  esteem 
and  confidence,  a  steady,  zealous,  devoted 
friend.  Nor  was  he  merely  a  sunshine  friend. 
In  the  hour  of  trial  and  difficulty,  and  the  day 
of  adversity,  he  shrank  from  no  personal  sacri- 
fices that  the  claims  and  duties  of  friendship 
seemed  to  demand.  In  short,  Mr.  Chairman, 
we  have  lost  a  man  whose  character  and  vir- 
tues rendered  him  an  ornament  to  society, 
and  an  honor  to  our  profession ;  and  we  should 
he  forgetful  of  our  duties,  and  recreant  to  our 
honor,  if  we  failed  to  render  a  suitable  tribute 
of  respect  to  his  memory.  It  is  with  this  con- 
viction that  I  offer  the  following  resolutions, 
and  move  their  adoption  : — 


57 

The  resolutions  were  then  read,  and  being 
duly  seconded,  were  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  Bar 
of  the  city  of  New- York  have  heard  with  deep 
regret  of  the  sudden  and  unexpected  decease 
of  their  respected  friend  and  brother,  David 
S.  Jones,  who  has  for  many  years  held  a  dis- 
tinguished rank  in  the  profession,  and  an 
elevated  position  in  society,  for  his  high-toned 
integrity,  his  generosity  and  benevolence,  and 
the  possession  of  all  those  qualities  and  attri- 
butes that  constitute  the  character  of  a  gen- 
tleman. 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  Bar 
deeply  sympathise  with  the  family  of  the  de- 
ceased in  their  bereavement,  and  wear  the 
usual  badge  of  mourning  for  the  ensuing 
month. 

Resolved,  That  these  proceedings  be  pub- 
lished, and  a  copy  of  the  resolutions,  signed 
by  the  presiding  officers,  be  transmitted  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased." 


58 

i 

FROM  The  Churchman,  (REV.  DR.  SEABURY,) 
MAY  20,  1848. 

"  It  becomes  our  painful  duty  to  record 
the  death  of  the  Hon.  David  S.  Jones,  who 
expired,  at  his  residence  in  this  city,  on  Wed- 
nesday, May  10th,  in  the  71st  year  of  his  age. 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  man  of  strongly  marked 
character,  of  noble  and  generous  sympathies, 
of  high  sense  of  honor,  vigorous  intellect, 
and  inflexible  integrity.  A  son  of  the  Hon. 
Samuel  Jones,  "the  father  of  the 'New- York 
Bar,"  inheriting  many  of  his  father's  traits  of 
character,  and  trained  under  his  eye  to  the 
legal  profession,  he  formed  in  early  life  those 
habits  of  discrimination  and  research,  of  accu- 
racy and  promptitude  in  business,  which  paved 
the  way  to  his  professional  eminence.  Before 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  was  appointed  by 
Gov.  Jay,  his  private  secretary,  a  delicate  and 
responsible  office,  which  Mr.  Jay  had  himself 
filled  in  the  eventful  period  of  the  Revolution. 
In  this  situation,  Mr.  Jones  was  brought  into 


59 

intercourse  with  some  of  the  most  distin- 
guished men  of  the  day,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  intimacies  and  friendships  which  were 
afterward  the  pride  and  solace  of  his  life,  and 
were  continued  with  unabated  warmth  until 
they  were  interrupted  by  death. 

But,  though  favored  by  his  early  advan- 
tages and  associations,  Mr.  Jones  did  not  rely 
on  them  to  build  up  for  himself  a  factitious 
reputation ;  but,  devoting  himself  to  his  pro- 
fessional prursuits  with  indomitable  energy  and 
untiring  industry,  he  fairly  earned  the  sterling 
reputation  which  he  enj  oyed.  During  the  fifty 
years  that  he  was  at  the  Bar,  he  never  failed 
a  day  to  be  at  his  office,  except  on  days  which 
religion  has  consecrated  to  higher  purposes,  or 
on  which  he  was  detained  at  home  by  a  death 
in  his  family.  As  a  natural  consequence,  he 
became  eminent  in  that  department  of  law  to 
which  his  attention  was  chiefly  directed :  the 
soundness  of  his  legal  opinions,  the  dispatch 
and  prompitude,  the  accuracy,  and  fidelity  of 


60 

his  business  habits,  combined  with  his  lofty 
integrity,  gave  him  a  distinguished  position 
in  society,  and  rendered  his  profession  a  source 
of  emolument  and  honor. 

In  ecclesiastical  affairs,  Mr.  Jones  took  an 
active  and  conspicious  part,  and  enjoyed  the 
full  confidence  of  the  late  Bishop  Hobart,  as 
well  as  of  the  present  Bishop  of  this  Diocese, 
for  his  sound,  orderly,  and  conservative  views. 
For  many  years  he  was  a  lay  delegate  from1 
St.  Mark's  Church,  in  this  city,  to  the  Dio- 
cesan Convention.  He  was  a  trustee  of  the 
General  Theological  Seminary,  from  its  final 
establishment  in  this  city  in  1822,  and  until 
his  removal  from  the  city,  a  few  years  since/ 
one  of  its  Standing  Committee.  At  the  time 
of  his  decease,  he  was  Senior  Warden  of  St. 
Saviour's  Church,  Maspeth,  having  been 
chosen  to  that  office,  at  the  organization  of 
the  parish,  last  year.  He  was  also,  for  the 
last  twenty  years  of  his  life,  one  of  the  most 
faithful  and  efficient  members  of  the  Board- 


61 

( 
of  Trustees  of  Columbia  College,  of  which 

institution,  he  was  an  Alumnus.  In  all  these 
appointments,  he  was  remarkable  for  his 
regularity,  punctuality,  and  diligence,  in  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  which  they  devolved 
on  him.  Those  who  have  been  associated 
with  him  in  the  conduct  of  these  institutions, 
or  who  have  had.  occasion  to  confer  with  him 
confidentially  on  their  affairs,  will  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  penetration  and  solidity  of  his 
judgment,  and  to  the  inflexible  honesty  of 
purpose  which  determined  him  to  the  pursuit 
of  their  true  interests,  even  when  they  came 
(as  they  sometimes  did)  in  collision  with  his 
cherished  personal  predilections,  or  the  soli- 
citations of  friends. 

Like  most  men  of  strong  natural  feelings, 
Mr.  Jones  acted  much  from  impulse ;  but  his 
impulses  were  not  capricious ;  they  neither 
interfered  with  the  steadiness  of  his  friend- 
ship, nor  warped  his  convictions  of  truth  and 
equity.  They  were  the  impulses  of  a  gener- 


62 

ous  mind  recoiling  from  disguise  and  decep- 
tion :  of  one — 

Whose  tongue  and  heart  did  not  turn  backs ;  but  went 
One  way,  and  kept  one  course  with  what  he  meant. 
Who  used  no  mask  at  all,  but  ever  ware 
His  honest  inclination  open-faced ; 

and  whose  sympathies  freely  flowed  forth  in 
behalf  of  every  meet  ohject  that  appealed  to 
his  benevolence  and  humanity.  His  gener- 
osity was  remarkable :  when  applied  to  hy 
the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  for  the  furtherance 
of  a  good  ohject,  he  has  been  known  to  send 
a  blank  check  with  his  signature,  to  be  filled 
up  with  any  amount  which  the  applicant 
chose  to  insert;  and  when  obliged,  in  his 
latter  years,  to  retrench  his  expenses,  he  has 
been  often  known  to  say  that  the  Church, 
and  its  institutions,  should  be  the  last  object 
from  which  his  benefactions  should  be  with- 
drawn. 

Mr.  Jones's  health  was  such,  as  to  allow 
him  to  attend  to  his  usual  professional  duties 


63 

until  a  few  days  before  his  death.  He  re- 
tained the  full"  possession  of  his  mental  facul- 
ties to  the  last ;  he  was  perfectly  conscious 
of  his  situation ;  received,  at  his  own  request, 
the  Holy  Communion ;  and  met  his  death 
with  composure,  resignation,  and  Christian 
faith. 

Since  the  ahoye  was  written,  the  follow- 
ing appropriate  resolutions  have  been  sent  us 
for  publication. 

At  a  meeting  of  St.  Saviour's  Church, 
Maspeth,  L.  I.,  convened  on  the  15th  day  of 
May,  1848,  the  following  Preamble  and  Re- 
solutions were  unanimously  adopted  : 

s  Whereas,  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God 
in  his  wise  Providence  to  remove  from  our 
midst  our  late  respected  Senior  Warden  ; 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  our  late 

.Senior  Warden,  David  S.  Jones,  the  members 

of  this  Vestry  mourn  the  loss  of  a  sincere 

Christian,  a  warm  friend,   a  kind  neighbor, 

and  an  estimable  and  upright  man. 


64 

(  * 

Resolved,  That  the  eminent  virtues  of  Mr. 
Jones,  his  integrity,  liberality,  and  truthful- 
ness, and  above  all,  the  zeal,  disinterestedness, 
and  energy,  manifested  in  his  efforts,  happily 
successful,  to  establish  the  Church  in  our 
neighborhood,  claimed  our  admiration  and 
respect  while  he  was  living,  and  endear  to  us 
his  memory  now  that  he  is  taken  from  us. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  kindest 
sympathies  to  the  bereaved  widow  and  family 
of  our  departed  friend,  in  their  deep  affliction. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions, 
signed  by  the  Rector  and  Clerk,  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  widow  and  family  of  Mr.  Jones. 

A  copy. 

JAMES  MAURICE,  Clerk  of  the  Vestry, 


rThe  Rev.  Mr.  Walsh,  in  the  very  first  sermon  preached  on 
the  completion  of  (St.  Saviour's)  the  Maspeth  parish 
church,  on  the  Sunday  but  one  immediately  succeeding 
Mr.  Jones's  death,  paid  the  following  heartfelt  and  sin- 
cere tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased.  The  refer- 
ence occurred  in  a  sermon,  the  text  of  which  was  the 
7th  verse  of  the  56th  chapter  of  the  Book  of  the  Prophecies 
of  Jsaiah. 

."  But  while  we  have  every  reason  to  he 
thankful  to  our  heavenly  Father,  who  has  so 
far  hlessed  and  prospered  our  undertaking1, 
yet  there  is  one  circumstance  which  is  j  ustly 
calculated  to  sadden  our  joy,  and  to  lessen  the 
satisfaction  we  cannot  hut  feel,  in  celebrating 
our  first  services  in  this  church.  You  doubt- 
less anticipate  me,  in  referring  to  the  loss  of 
our  senior  warden,  Mr.  David  S.  Jones,  who, 
if  not  now  '  absent  from  the  body,'  would, 
in  all  probability,  have  joined  with  us  in  the 
services  of  this  day  ;  but  who,  removed  from 
us  by  a  few  days'  illness,  is,  we  trust,  '  present 

with  the  Lord.' 

\.  . 


66 

"  It  is  not  my  intention,  in  referring  to  our 
departed  friend,  to  speak  of  his  character, 
either  as  regards  his  public  or  social  life. 
Those  tributes  of  respect  have  already  been 
paid  to  his  memory ;  and  all  of  you  were  suf- 
ficiently acquainted  with  him  to  appreciate 
his  excellence  and  worth  in  these  relations. 
I  cannot,  however,  but  refer  to  his  character 
as  a  member  of  the  Church,  and  as  an  officer 
of  our  parish.  Born  and  educated  in  the 
Church,  Mr.  Jones  had  been,  from  early  life, 
a  devoted  friend  to  its  interests.  He  became, 
in  maturer  years,  the  friend  and  counsellor  of 
the  late  Bishop  Hobart,  and,  up  to  the  time 
of  his  decease,  was  an  efficient  member  of 
various  Church  institutions.  His  endeavors 
to  do  good  were  warmly  manifested  in  his 
generous  responses  to  all  meet  appeals  to  his 
benevolence.  He  was  indeed  noble  in  his 
liberality.  During  the  past  year,  I  incidentally 
learned  from  his  own  lips,  that  it  was  his 
custom,  even  in  the  time  of  his  greatest  pros- 


67 

perity,  to  set  aside  nearly  a  tenth  of  his  in- 
come for  charitable  and  religious  uses ;  and  I 
have  also  heard,  from  a  clergyman,  of  whose 
parish  he  was  formerly  a  member,  that  he 
had  expressed  to  him  the  opinion  "  that  it  was 
too  often  the  case  that  Christians,  in  the  day 
of  adversity,  retrenched  their  offerings  for  the 
poor  and  for  the  Church,  rather  than  their 
personal  expenses ;  that  the  contrary  should 
be  the  rule' ;  and,  for  his  own  part,  his  gifts  to 
the  Church  should  be  the  last  item  on  the  list 
of  his  expenditure  which  should  be  reduced.' 
It  was  therefore  a  matter  of  principle  with 
him  to  do  good  to  all  men,  and  especially  unto 
them  that  are  of  the  household  of  faith  ;  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  acted  upon  it  was  a 
plain  mark  of  the  sincerity  and  conscientious- 
ness which  stamped  his  Christian  character. 
As  an  officer  of  our  parish,  Mr.  Jones  mani- 
fested, from  its  organization,  by  his  exertions 
as  well  as  his  counsel,  the  liveliest  interest  in 
its  prosperity.  All  who  have  been  associated 


68 

with  him  can  bear  witness  to  the  fidelity  and 
punctuality  with  which  he  met  all  his  en- 
gagements, and  to  the  zeal  and  energy  with 
which  he  interested  his  personal  friends  in 
contributing  to  the  erection  of  this  edifice. 
His  great  desire,  often  expressed  within  the 
last  few  months  to  many  of  us,  was  to  be 
allowed  to  witness  its  completion,  and  to 
assemble  with  us  on  this  occasion. 

"  But  it  has  pleased  God  in  His  wisdom  to 
order  events  otherwise ;  and  we  now  mourn 
the  loss  of  one  who  was  a  devoted  friend  to 
the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  our  parish. 

"  His  closing  hours  were  befitting  the 
Christian.  He  yielded  with  resignation  to 
the  will  of  God,  trusting  to  realize,  through 
the  merits  of  our  Saviour's  atoning  blood,  the 
blessed  hope  of  everlasting  life. 

"  While  our  loss,  therefore,  casts  a  shade 
over  our  present  joy,  it  should  also- admonish 
us  to  renewed  exertion  and  to  greater  devotion 
in  the  Christian  life.  Our  life  is  but  short : 


69 

eternity  is  long.  May  we  so  strive  for  those 
true  joys  which  are  to  he  found  at  God's  right 
hand,  that,  when  summoned  to  leave  this 
world,  we  may  with  joy  and  hope  enter  upon 
the  eternal." 


10 


APPENDIX. 


NOTICES 


JONES  FAMILY,  OF  QUEEN'S  COUNTY. 


APPENDIX. 


Memoir   of   Hon.  Samuel  Jones,  from  Thompson's 
History  of  Long  Island. 

HON.  SAMUEL  JONES.* — The  first  American  ancestor 
of  this  gentleman  was  Major  Thomas  Jones,  who 
emigrated  from  Ireland  to  Rhode  Island  in  1692,  and 
married  Freelove,  daughter  of  Thomas  Townsend, 
from  whom,  in  1696,  they  received  a  large  and  valu- 
able tract  of  land  on  Long  Island,  called  "  Fort 

*  The  memoir  by  Mr.  Thompson  is  retained,  in  preference  to  an 
priginal  notice  drawn  up  by  a  most  competent  hand,  in  which  certain 
points  were  omitted  which  Mr.  Thompson  had  included  ;  and,  indeed, 
after  examining  all  the  family  records  we  could  procure,  and  aided  by 
the  best  lights,  we  do  not  see  how,  so  far  as  exactness  and  perspicuity 
is  concerned,  it  could  be  improved.  Mr.  Thompson  had  a  peculiar 
turn  for  such  researches,  and  had  sifted  his  materials  pretty  thoroughly : 
he  has  left  us  little  to  glean.  It  is  true,  he  has  mingled  tradition  and 
history ;  but  it  is,  in  some  cases,  difficult  to  separate  them  ;  and  he 
has  invariably  stated  where  he  relies  purely  upon  the  former. 


74 

Neck."-\  Here  Mr.  Jones  erected  a  dwelling,  which 
stood  140  years,  and  was  known  to  travellers  as  the 
"  old  brick  house." 

f  The  most  interesting  portion  of  this  part  of  the  town  is  that 
known  by  the  name  of  fort  Neck,  so  called  on  account  of  two  old 
Indian  forts,  the  remains  of  which  are  still  very  conspicuous.  One 
of  these  is  situated  on  the  most  southerly  point  of  land  adjoining 
the  salt  meadow,  and  is  nearly,  if  not  exactly,  a  square,  being  about 
thirty  yards  on  each  side.  The  breast-work  or  parapet  is  of  earth, 
and  there  is  a  ditch  or  moat  on  the  outside,  which  appears  to  have  been 
about  six  feet  wide.  The  other  fort  was  on  the  southernmost  point 
of  the  salt  meadow  adjoining  the  bay,  and  consisted  of  palisadoes  set 
in  the  meadow.  The  tide  has  worn  away  the  meadow  where  the 
fort  stood,  and  the  place  is  now  a  part  of  the  bay,  and  covered 
with  water.  In  the  bay,  between  the  meadow  and  the  beach,  are  two 
islands,  called  Squaw  Islands  ;  and  the  uniform  tradition  of  the  Indians 
was,  that  the  forts  were  erected  by  their  ancestors,  a  great  while  ago, 
for  defence  against  their  enemies  ;  and  that  upon  their  approach,  the 
women  and  children  were  sent  to  these  islands,  which  occasioned 
them  to  be  so  called.  The  first  and  most  substantial  dwelling 
erected  here  by  the  white  people  was  the  old  brick  house,  said  to 
have  been  built  by  Major  Thomas  Jones  in  1695.  It  was  doubtless 
considered  a  more  than  ordinary  specimen  of  architecture  in  that  day, 
and  finished  in  a  superior  style.  Many  improbable  fictions  in  relation 
to  the  owner  of  the  mansion  have  been  preserved,  and  more  strange, 
not  to  say  marvellous  legends,  have  been  cherished  and  circulated  in 
regard  to  the  edifice  itself,  which  ignorance  and  superstition  have  not 
failed  to  magnify,  and  sufficient  to  fill  the  lonely  and  benighted  tra- 


75 


Of  the  many  traditions  in  relation  to  this  extra- 
ordinary personage,  very  little  can  be  relied  upon. 
That  he  was  in  sonie  way  connected  with  the  buca- 
neers  of  that  period  is  not  improbable,  for  he  had 

veller  with  fear  and  anxiety.  A  correspondent  of  the  New-York 
Mirror,  (now  known  to  be  the  late  ingenious  William  P.  Hawes,  Esq.) 
a  few  years  since,  speaking  of  the  brick  house,  says :  "  This  venerable 
edifice  is  still  standing,  though  much  dilapidated,  and  is  an  object  of 
awe  to  all  the  people  in  the  neighborhood.  The  traveller  cannot 
fail  to  be  struck  with  its  reverend  and  crumbling  ruins,  as  his  eye 
first  falls  upon  it  from  the  turnpike ;  and  if  he  has  heard  the  story, 
he  will  experience  a  chilly  sensation,  and  draw  a  hard  breath  while 
he  looks  at  the  circular  sashless  window  in  the  gable  end.  That 
window  has  been  left  open  ever  since  the  old  man's  death.  TTjq 
eons  and  grandsons  used  to  try  all  manner  of  means  in  their  power  to 
close  it  up.  They  put  in  sashes,  and  they  boarded  it  up,  and  they 
bricked  it  up ;  but  all  would  not  do :  so  soon  as  night  came,  then- 
work  would  be  destroyed,  and  strange  sights  would  be  seen,  anJ 
awful  voices  heard."  This  curious  and  venerable  relic  of  bye-gone 
ages  stood  for  a  period  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  forty  years,' 
unscathed,  except  by  the  hand  of  time ;  and  until  1837,  when  it  was 
removed  to  make  way  for  the  extensive  improvements  of  David  S. 
Jones,  Esq.,  near  which  he  has  erected  one  of  the  most  costly  and 
magnificent  mansions  in  the  state.  The  appendages  to  this  splendid 
establishment  are  in  keeping  with  the  principal  edifice,  and  do  credit 
to  the  liberality  and  taste  of  their  opulent  proprietor. — Thompson's 
ffistory  of  Long  Island.  Town  of  Oyster-Bay. 


been  a  soldier  at  the  famous  battle  of  the  Boyne, 
fought  between  the  English  under  William  III.,  and 
the  Irish  under  James  II.,  in  1690;  and  as  an  ac- 
knowledgment for  services  rendered  by  him,  he  re- 
ceived from  his  royal  master  a  commission  to  cruise 
against  Spanish  property,  which,  in  all  probability, 
he  made  a  liberal  use  of,  and  thereby  accumulated 
considerable  wealth.  Some  trophies  of  his  enterprises 
are  still  preserved  among  his  descendants.  He  en- 
tered largely  into  the  commerce  of  that  day,  the 
taking  of  whales  along  shore,  which  gave  much  em- 
ployment to  the  Indians,  who  were  very  expert  in 
that  business.  In  1704  he  was  commissioned  by 
Lord  Cornbury,  sheriff  of  Queens  county,  and  in  1710 
was  appointed  ranger  general  for  the  island  of  Nassau. 
He  died  in  1713,  and,  agreeably  to  his  own  desire, 
was  interred  near  the  creek,  at  the  bottom  of  the 
upland,  on  his  own  farm,  and  not  far  from  one  of  the 
old  Indian  forts.  The  inscription  at  his  grave,  written 
by  himself,  is  as  follows  : 

"  From  distant  lands,  to  this  wild  waste  he  came, 
This  seat  he  choose,  and  here  he  fixed  his  name. 
Long  may  his  sons  this  peaceful  spot  enjoy, 
And  no  ill  fate  theit  offspring  e'er  annoy." 

His  widow  after  his  death  intermarried  with  Ma- 


77 

jor  Timothy  Bagley,  a  retired  British  officer,  and 
died  in  July,  1726.  Major  Jones  left  issue  David, 
Thomas,  William,  Margaret,  Sarah,  Elizabeth,  and 
Freelove.  Of  these,  Thomas  was  drowned  in  the 
Sound  unmarried ;  Margaret  married  Ezekiel  Smith ; 
Sarah  married  Gerardus  Clowes ;  Elizabeth  married 
Jeremiah  Mitchell ;  and  Freelove  married  Thomas 
Smith. 

David  Jones,  eldest  son,  was  born  Sept.  1699,  and 
to  him  was  devised,  in  tail,  most  of  the  paternal  estate < 
Being  educated  for  a  lawyer,  and  possessed  of  a 
powerful  intellect,  he  became  greatly  distinguished 
in  his  profession,  and  was  esteemed  a  man  of  very 
superior  juridical  attainments.  In  1737,  he  was 
chosen  to  the  provincial  assembly,  and  was  continued 
in  that  body  till  1758.  For  thirteen  years  he  filled 
the  office  of  speaker,  and  had  the  firmness  on  one 
occasion  to  close  the  doors  of  the  assembly  against 
the  governor,  until  a  bill  then  under  discussion  could 
be  passed,  and  which  his  excellency  intended  to  defeat 
by  prorogation.  He  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Col. 
William  Willett,  by  whom  he  had  issue  Thomas, 
David,  William,  Arrabella,  Mary,  and  Anne.  She 
died  January  31,  1751.  His  second  wife  was  Mary, 

widow  of  John  Tredwell,  by  whom  he  had  no  children. 
11 


78 

In  1758,  he  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  colony,  which  he  held  till  1773.  His 
death  occurred  October  11,  1775.  During  his  whole 
life,  and  in  every  situation,  he  proved  the  unyielding 
advocate  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  few  men 
ever  shared  more  largely  in  the  public  confidence 
and  respect. 

By  suffering  a  common  recovery,  his  life  estate  was 
Converted  into  a  fee,  which  he  devised  to  his  eldest 
son  Thomas  for  life,  with  remainder,  on  failure  of 
issue,  to  the  testator's  eldest  daughter  Arrabella,  and 
her  issue  in  tail.  The  said  Thomas  Jones  (commonly 
called  Judge  Jones)  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1755, 
and  in  1757  was  appointed  clerk  of  Queens  county, 
which  he  held  till  1775.  He  was  made  recorder  of 
New- York  in  1769,  which  he  retained  four  years,  and 
was  succeeded,  a  few  years  after,  by  his  nephew,  the 
subject  of  this  notice.  His  wife  was  Anne,  daughter 
of  Chief  Justice  De  Lancey.  The  stately  mansion 
now  occupied  by  General  Thomas  Floyd  Jones,  was 
completed  by  Judge  Jones  a  short  time  before  the 
Revolutionary  war.  He  was  appointed  a  judge  of 
the  supreme  court,  which  office  he  held  during  the 
war  by  royal  commission,  which  probably  led  to  the 
confiscation  of  his  estate,  and  his  own  expatriation. 


He  went  to  England,  where  he  remained  till  his 
death,  many  years  after.  His  brother  David  was  a 
lieutenant  of  horse  in  the  British  service,  and  died  at 
Fort  Frontenac  in  1758.  His  sister  Mary  married 
her  cousin  Thomas  Jones,  son  of  her  uncle  William, 
and  Anne,  her  sister,  became  the  wife  of  John  Gale, 
of  Orange  county.  William  Jones,  third  son  of 
Major  Thomas  Jones,  born  April  25,  1708,  married 
Phebe,  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Jackson,  by  whom 
he  had  sixteen  children,  fourteen  of  whom  lived  to 
have  families ;  David,  Samuel,  William,  Thomas, 
Gilbert,  John,  Walter,  Richard,  Hallet,  Freelove, 
(married  Benjamin  Birdsall,)  Elizabeth,  (married 
Jacob  Conkling,)  Margaret,  (married  Townsend 
Hewlert,)  Phebe,  (married  Benjamin  Rowland,)  and 
Sarah,  (married  John  Willis,)  all  of  whom  left  issue, 
which  are  now  very  numerous. 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  highly  respectable  and  intelligent 
farmer,  and  resided  at  West  Neck,  where  his  grand- 
son, Thomas  Jones,  now  lives.  His  death  took  place 
August  29, 1779,  and  that  of  his  widow  May  10,  1800. 

Samuel  Jones,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  the 
second  son  of  the  above  named  William,  and  was 
born  July  26,  1734.  His  education  was  quite  limited ; 
and  while  young,  he  chose  the  occupation  of  a  sailor, 


80 

in  which  capacity  he  made  several  voyages  to  Europe 
in  the  merchant  service.  He  was  ultimately  deterred 
from  prosecuting  the  business  further  by  the  impres- 
sions made  upon  his  imagination  in  a  dream,  in  which 
he  fancied  the  loss  of  the  vessel  in  which  he  was 
about  to  embark  upon  another  voyage.  He  was  next 
placed  in  the  office  of  William  Smith,  the  historian, 
an  eminent  lawyer  of  New- York,  subsequently  chief 
justice,  and  whose  son  was  afterwards  a  judge  in 
Canada.  Mr.  Jones  was  in  due  time  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  in  a  surprisingly  short  period  found  himself 
surrounded  by  friends  and  honored  with  an  extensive 
and  lucrative  practice.  For  his  exemplary  industry, 
high  attainments,  and  great  purity  of  character,  he 
presented  a  model  for  the  imitation  of  all  who  aimed 
at  distinction  in  jurisprudence.  His  office  was  sought 
by  students,  and,  besides  the  late  De  Witt  Clinton, 
he  instructed  many  who  afterwards  rose  to  much 
distinction.  At  the  dawn  of  the  Revolutionary  con^ 
test,  he  was  called  into  the  public  councils,  and  con:- 
tinued  to  fill  important  and  responsible  offices  till  age 
admonished  him  to  retire  tp  private  life.  He  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  days  upon  his  farm  at  West 
Neck,  indulging  his  taste  for  reading  and  observation, 
the  fri^its  of  which  was  communicated  to  the  world 


81 

through  the  medium  of  the  press.  Such  was  the 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  legal  profes- 
sion, that  his  opinions  were  generally  acquiesced  in 
for  their  accuracy  and  justice.  He  was  often  in  the 
assembly ;  and  in  1778  was  a  member  of  the  conven- 
tion that  adopted  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  of  which  body  his  intimate  friend,  George 
Clinton,  was  president.  It  is  well  known  that  much 
contrariety  of  opinion  prevailed  in  that  body,  and 
that  the  result  was  a  matter  of  expediency  and  com- 
promise among  the  members.  He  drew  most  of  the 
amendments  proposed,  and  which  were  subsequently 
adopted  as  a  part  of  that  instrument.  He  was,  in 
short,  indefatigable  in  every  situation ;  and  nothing 
was  ever  permitted  to  interrupt  the  performance  of 
any  public  duty.  In  1789,  he  was  associated  with 
the  late  Richard  Varick  in  revising  the  statutes  of 
this  state,  which  was  executed  principally  by  Mr. 
Jones,  with  uncommon  accuracy  and  expedition. 
He  was  the  same  year  appointed  recorder  of  New- 
York,  the  duties  of  which  were  discharged  with 
ability  and  integrity,  till  he  was  succeeded,  in  1797, 
by  the  Hon.  James  Kent.  In  1796,  he  was  requested 
by  Governor  Jay  to  draft  a  law  for  establishing  and 
regulating  the  office  of  comptroller,  to  which  he  was 


appointed,  and  which  he  retained  for  several  years. 
"  I  rely,"  says  the  late  Dr.  Hosack,  "  on  the  testimony 
of  others,  when  I  speak  of  the  legal  talents  of  the  late 
Samuel  Jones :  common  consent  has  indeed  assigned 
him  the  highest  attainments  in  jurisprudence,  and 
the  appellation  of  the  father  of  the  New-  York  bar. 
He  justly  ranked  among  the  most  profound  and  en- 
lightened jurists  of  this  or  any  other  country,  and 
acted  a  useful  and  conspicuous  part  in  organizing 
our  courts  and  judiciary  system  after  the  Revolution. 
He  was  a  liberal  and  enlightened  whig,  and  advocated 
the  cause  of  Independence  with  zeal  and  success." 
"  No  one,"  says  Chancellor  Kent,  "  surpassed  him  in 
clearness  of  intellect,  and  in  moderation  and  extreme 
simplicity  of  character  ;  no  one  equalled  him  in  his 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  technical  rules  and  doc- 
trines of  real  property,  and  in  familiarity  with  the 
skilful  and  elaborate,  but  now  obsolete  and  mysterious, 
black-letter  learning  of  the  common  law." 

He  was  distinguished  for  coolness,  candor,  and 
deliberation  in  debate,  and  sought  the  substantial 
rather  than  the  showy  part  of  an  orator.  He  was 
twice  married — first,  to  Ellen,  daughter  of  Cornelius 
Turk,  who  died  soon  after  ;  and  second,  to  Cornelia, 
daughter  of  Elbert  Herring,  Esq.,  of  New- York,  by 


83 

whom  he  had  issue  Samuel,  William,  Elbert  H., 
Thomas,  and  David  S.  Jones.*  He  died  November 
21,  1819,  and  his  widow  July  29,  1821. 

*  The  first  (William)  and  seventh  (Walter)  sons,  died  in  infancy. 


84 


Of  the  Brothers  of  Hon.  Samuel  Jones. 

IN  the  descendants  of  Samuel  Jones  the  elder  we 
are,  of  course,  more  particularly  interested ;  but  we 
should  by  no  means  omit  to  mention,  in  connexion 
with  his  name,  those  of  his  brothers,  whose  descend- 
ants have  kept  alive  a  strong  family  feeling,  and 
have,  in  different  walks,  sustained  the  name  and 
reputation  of  the  family  :  the  remaining  sons  of 
William  Jones,  senior,  who  alone  of  his  three  brothers 
left  issue,  and  who  is  therefore  to  be  regarded  as  the 
head  of  that  branch  of  the  Jones  family,  whose  his- 
tory we  are  tracing.  Thomas  and  Gilbert  went  to 
Orange  county,  and  settled  there  :  Richard  settled 
near  Rochester.  The  other  brothers  remained  upott 
Long  Island. 

William,  another  of  the  sons  of  William  Jones, 
had  two  sons,  Townsend  and  Samuel,  who  have  both 
died  without  issue.  The  latter,  by  his  will  in  1836, 
established  in  the  town  of  Oyster  Bay  a  fund  called 
the  "  Jones  fund,  for  the  support  of  the  poor,"  for 
which  public  trustees  were  appointed  by  an  act  of 
the  legislature,  passed  18th  April,  1838.  (Laws  of 
1838,  p.  312.) — John,  another  son  of  William  Jones, 


85 

removed  to  Coldspring  harbour,  on  the  north  side 
of  Long-Island,  having  married    Hannah  Hewlett, 
(a  daughter  of  John  Hewlett,  Esq.,  and  sister  of  the 
late  Judge  Divine  Hewlett,)  who  is  now  living,  his 
widow,  at  an  advanced  age.     He  became  interested 
in  mills  and  water  privileges  at  that  place,  formerly 
possessed  by  his  father-in-law,  and,  besides  several 
daughters,  left  five  sons,  who  are  all  now  living, — 
William  H.,  John  H.,  Walter  R.,  Joshua  T.,  and 
Charles  H.     The  three  first  named  sons  have  estab- 
lished and  conducted  for  many  years  manufactories 
at  that  place.     The  eldest,  William  H.,  a  farmer, 
has  assisted  in  the  superintendence  of  the  manufac- 
tories, and  performed  the  duties  of  his  situation,  as  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  other  capacities,  public 
and  private.     The  second  son,  John  H.,  besides  at- 
tending to  the  manufactories,  has  engaged  himself  in 
various  other  pursuits,  and  has  pursued,  among  others, 
that  undertaken  by  the  first  founder  of  the  family  in 
this  country — the  whale  fishery.    He  and  his  brother, 
Walter  R.,  have  been  part  owners,  and  he  the  active 
manager  and  agent,  of  eight  whaling  ships,  fitted  out 
from  Coldspring  harbour,  measuring  more  than  3000 
tons,  carrying  about  250  men,  and  costing,  with  their 
outfits,  about  $227,000.     These,  instead  of  confining 
12 


86 

themselves  near  our  coasts,  from  which  the  whales 
have  been  mostly  frightened  away,  make  longer 
voyages  than  Captain  Cook  did  in  circumnavigating 
the  globe.  Walter  R.  Jones,  above  named,  the  third 
son  of  John,  at  an  early  age  engaged  himself  in  an 
insurance  office  in  New- York,  and  now,  as  president 
of  the  Atlantic  Mutual  Insurance  Company,  stands 
confessedly  at  the  head  of  the  underwriters  of  New- 
York.  His  brothers,  Joshua  T.  and  Charles-  H.,  are 
also  engaged  in  various  commercial  pursuits.  The 
two  oldest  brothers,  William  H.  and  John  H.,  have 
each  large  families.  Oliver  H.,  one  of  the  sons  of 
the  first,  is  known  as  president  of  the  New- York  Fire 
Insurance  Company ;  and  John  D.,  one  of  the  sons 
of  the  second,  for  some  time  secretary,  has  recently 
been  appointed  a  vice-president  of  the  Atlantic  Mu- 
tual Insurance  Company. 

The  sons  of  Walter,  who  also  resided  at  Cold- 
spring,  came  up  to  town  early  in  life, — John  J.,  de- 
ceased some  years  since,  a  most  estimable  gentleman : 
William  Townsend,  who  has  retired  from  business, 
and  spends  a  large  portion  of  the  year  in  the  pleasant 
village  of  Southampton,  Suffolk  county. 

This  will  suffice  to  show  the  wide-spread  branches 
and  extent  of  the  Jones  family,  descended  directly 


87 

from  the  first  settler.  Neither  our  limits  nor  the 
scope  of  our  subject  permits  a  more  extended  notice 
of  the  collateral  branches  of  the  family. 


Judge  Thomas  Jones. 

JONES,   THOMAS,   OF  NEW- YORK. — By  his  marriage 
with  a  daughter  of  Lieutenant-Governor  James  De 
Lancey,  and  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  the  celebrated  Sir 
William  Draper,  he  became  connected  also  with  the 
families  of  Sir  Peter  Warren,  of  the  British  navy, 
and  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  of  New- York.     At  the 
revolutionary  era,  he  was  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and,  in  consequence  of  his  adherence  to  the 
royal  cause,  lost  his  estate,  under  the  confiscation 
act.     In  1779,  in  retaliation  for  the  capture  of  Gen. 
Silliman,  by  Glover  and  others,  a  party  of  whigs  de- 
termined to  seize  upon  Judge  Jones  at  his  seat  on 
Long-Island.     Twenty-five   volunteered,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Daniel  Hawley,  of  Newfield, 
(now  Bridgeport,)    Connecticut.      Hawley  and  his 
associates  crossed  the  Sound  on  the  night  of  Nov.  4, 
and  reached  Judge  Jones's  house  (a  distance  of  52 
miles)  on  the  evening  of  the  6th.     There  was  a  ball, 
and   the  music    and   dancing   prevented  an  alarm. 
The  Judge  was  standing  in  his  entry  when  the  assail- 
ants opened  the  door,  and  was  taken  prisoner,   and 
borne  off.     A  party  of  royal  soldiers  was  near,  and 
Jones,  in  passing,  hemmed  very  loud,  to  attract  their 
attention.    Hawley  told  him  not  to  repeat  the  sound ; 


89 


but  he  disobeyed,  and  was  threatened  with  death, 
unless  he  desisted  from  further  endeavors  to  induce 
the  soldiers  to  come  to  his  rescue. 

Though  six  of  the  whigs  were  captured  by  a  troop 
of  horse,  the  remainder  of  their  party  carried  their 
prisoner  safely  to  Connecticut.  The  lady  of  General 
Silliman  invited  the  Judge  to  breakfast,  and  he  not 
only  accepted  of  her  hospitality  for  the  morning,  but 
continued  her  guest  for  several  days.  But  he  re- 
mained gloomy,  distant,  and  reserved.  In  May, 
1780,  the  object  of  his  seizure  was  accomplished ; 
the  British  commander  having  at  that  time  consented 
to  give  up  General  Silliman  and  his  son,  in  exchange 
for  the  Judge  and  Mr.  Hewlett, — the  whigs,  how- 
ever, throwing  in,  as  a  sort  of  make-weight,  one 
Washburn,  a  story,  of  infamous  character.  Judge 
Jones  retired  to  England,  and  there  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  and,  as  it  is  believed,  in  retire- 
ment.— Biographical  Sketches  of  American  Loyalists, 
by  Lorenzo  Sabine;  pp.  404-5.  Boston,  1847.* 

*  A  fine  portrait  of  Judge  Jones  (commonly  called  the  young 
Judge,  to  distinguish  liim  from  his  father,  Judge  David  Jones,)  is  now 
hanging  in  the  parlor  at  Fort  Neck. 


90 


Some  Further  Particulars  regarding  the  Jones 
Family,  of  Queens  County. 

"  THE  Jones  family  has  now  furnished  legislators  and  jurists  to  the 
colony  and  state  more  than  a  century."  * — J.  F.  Cooper,  Esq.,  in  a 
Letter  to  the  Home  Journal,  May  6,  1848. 

The  name]  of  Jones  is  so  common,  that  different 
families   and    individuals  bearing  it  are  frequently, 

*  Beside  those  already  mentioned  in  the  preceding  sketches,  may 
be  enumerated  SAMUEL  JONES,  jun.,  formerly  chancellor,  for  many 
years  chief  justice  of  Superior  Court,  and  at  present  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals;  and  his  brothers,  MAJOR  WILLIAM 
JONES,  of  Coldspring,  (a  member  of  the  Assembly,  1816-1818,  1820, 
and  1824-29,)  and  ELBERT  HERRING  JONES,  Esq.,  formerly  in  the 
Senate  of  the  State,  and  delegate  with  Rufus  King,  and  N.  Seaman, 
to  convention  to  amend  constitution  of  the  State,  1$21 ; — SAMUEL  W. 
JONES,  Esq.,  (son  of  Major  William  Jones,)  formerly  surrogate  of 
Schenectady  county,  mayor  of  the  city,  and,  for  some  years  past,  first 
judge  of  that  county ; — of  the  FLOYD  JONES  branch,  HENRY  FLOYD 
JONES,  member  Assembly  1829  and  30,  in  Senate  1836-40;  DAVID 
RICHARD  FLOYD  JONES,  his  nephew,  Assembly  1841-43,  in  Senate 
1844-8,  at  present  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  of  this  city  ;  and  his 
brother,  ELBERT  FLOYD  JONES,  Assembly  1845. 

f  The  favorite  family  Christian  names  which  occur  in  every  gene- 
ration, and  in  almost  every  branch  of  the  family,  are  Thomas,  David, 
William:  Samuel  and  John  are  the  next  most  frequent  during  the 
last  three  generations. 


91 

and  sometimes  unpleasantly,  confounded  with  each 
other.  This  obliges  one  to  use  much  more  of  par- 
ticularity in  speaking  of  the  different  persons  that 
bear  it  than  in  the  case  of  a  more  unusual  patryo- 
nymic.  Like  most  of  the  Welsh  surnames,  (Davids,. 
Richards,  Hughes,  Williams,  Edwards,  &c.,  &c.,) 
it  is  plainly  derivable  directly  from  the  Christian 
name.  The  primitive  orthography,  Johnes,  retained 
by  the  latest  (we  believe)  translator  of  Froissart, 
and  to  be  found  even  in  this  city,  is  undoubtedly 
the  correct  mode  of  spelling  it.  It  is  sometimes 
written  Johns,  evidently  a  contraction  of  the  for- 
mer, and  which,  again  softened,  appears  as  one  of 
the  standard  names  of  the  Welsh  race  and  of 
Englishmen  at  home,  and  their  descendants  in  the 
United  States  and  all  other  parts  of  the  world. 
The  historical  personages  who  have  given  character 
to  the  name  are  too  well  and  universally  known 
to  require  recapitulation  here. — As  an  evidence  of 
the  extreme  commonness  of  the  name,  (which  is  its 
sole  defect,  for  it  is  not  liable  to  a  pun,  a  circum- 
stance Shenstone  congratulated  himself  upon  as  to 
his  own  name,)  we  find,  in  a  note  in  Cottle's  Re- 
miniscences of  Coleridge  and  Southey,  the  remark 
of  the  slight  diversity  of  the  Welsh  names.  Thus, 


92 

in  a  list  of  subscribers  to  Owen's  Welsh  Dictionary, 
(which  only  Welshmen  would  take,)  there  are  to  be 
found  of  the  letter  J,  fourty-four  names,  and  all  of 
them  Jones. 

Apropos  of  this  subject,  we  may  transcribe  a 
pleasant  anecdote  that  occurs  in  the  letter  of  an 
accomplished  legal  gentleman  of  this  city,  who  had 
himself  married  into  the  Long-Island  Jones  family, 
a  branch  of  that  highly  respectable  portion  of  if 
settled  at  Coldspring. 

"Within  a  week  past,  I  had  occasion  to  read 
the  evidence  on  a  trial  of  a  collision  suit  between 
an  American  vessel  and  a  Welsh  one,  from  Caer- 
navon.  The  captain  of  the  latter,  a  part  owner, 
was  John  Jones,  who  said  it  would  take  a  good 
while  to  tell  the  names  of  all  the  other  Joneses  who 
were  part  owners.  He  named  half  a  dozen  of  our 
family  name,  and  said  the  ownership  was  a  family 
concern.  And  although  the  name  is  so  common, 
it  appeared  quite  probable  that  he  was  from  the 
same  old  stock,  without  going  back  so  far  as  Adam." 

Family  traits  are  as  distinctly  marked  as  national 
characters,  and,  in  part,  the  former  result  from  the 
latter.  The  Welsh  origin  of  the  family  of  Jones  is 
evident  in  other  respects  than  in  the  peculiarity  of 


93 


the  name  alone.  The  family  of  Major  Thos.  Jones, 
sometimes  styled  the  chevalier,  and  of  whose  descent 
from  a  noble  Irish  family,  which  intermarried  with 
one  from  Wales,  there  is  a  tradition,  is  supposed  (but 
without  any  certainty)  to  have  originated  in  Meri- 
onethshire or  Glamorganshire.  However  that  may 
be,  the  characteristics  of  the  Welsh  race  are  plainly 
discernible  in  almost  every  member  of  the  family, 
and  are  very  marked  in  all  of  those  who  have  become 
prominent  in  any  walk  of  life.  Almost  to  a  man, 
choleric,  sanguine,  social,  hospitable,  independent, 
and  honorable.  Judgment  and  penetration,  with  re- 
markable memory,  have  distinguished  the  leading 
members  of  the  family.  A  fondness  for  genealogies 
marks  the  elder  members  of  the  family,  no  less  than 
local  and  personal  pride,  and  that  clannish  feeling 
which  is  so  prominent  among  the  Scotch  and  the 
people  of  New-England. 

The  extent  of  the  family  is  remarkable.  The  de- 
scendants, from  the  common  ancestor  to  the  present 
(seventh)  generation,  his  lineal  posterity,  are  to  be 
counted  by  hundreds.  Many  of  the  descendants  of  the 
third  generation  have  almost  become  heads  of  tribes. 
The  direct  descendants  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Jones 
the  elder,  grandson  of  the  first  settler,  to  commence 
15 


94 

with  the  third  generation,  (and  to  confine  ourselves 
to  the  descendants  of  but  one  of  fourteen  children, 
who  all  had  families,  and  several  of  them  large  fami- 
lies,) and  those  of  his  five  sons,  number  nearly  one 
hundred.  This  fact  may  give  some  idea  of  the  num- 
ber of  the  descendants  of  Major  Thomas  Jones,  to 
compile  a  perfect  list  of  whom,  at  this  late  date,  may- 
be considered  as  next  to  impossible. 

The  majority  of  those  whom  we  have  not  noticed 
particularly,  are  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits ;  a 
few  having  inherited  handsome  estates,  and  content 
to  enjoy  their  patrimony  amid  the  pleasures  of  a 
country  life,  without  any  desire  of  increasing  it,  but 
the  larger  number  embarking  in  rural  occupations, 
as  a  means  of  independent  livelihood,  from  the  nar- 
rowness of  their  fortunes. 

In  point  of  doctrinal  belief  and  Church  govern- 
ment, a  singular  fact  is  to  be  noticed.  The  whole 
family,  with  very  few  exceptions,  is  to  be  divided  into 
the  very  opposite  ranks  of  Churchmen  and  Quakers. 
In  politics,  we  believe  most  are  whig,  although  all  of 
the  present  generation  who  have  taken  any  public 
stand,  or  filled  office,  have  been,  if  we  are  not  mis- 
taken, democratic.  Since  the  death  of  the  second 
David  Jones,  but  one  of  the  family  has  been  in  active 


95 

service-'-Lieutenant  De  Lancey  Jones,  a  son  of 
Henry  Floyd  Jones,  Esq.,  and  who  displayed  gal- 
lantry and  skill  in  all  the  actions  of  the  forces  under 
General  Worth  during  the  Mexican  war. 

In  this  uncommonly  extensive  family,  so  far  as 
we  can  learn,  there  is  not,  nor  ever  has  been,  but  one 
physician,  (Dr.  Philip  Livingston  Jones,)  until  very 
lately ;  and  not  one  clergyman,  or  artist,  or  writer  by 
profession,  with  the  exception  of  the  present  writer. 

Longevity  is  a  characteristic  trait  of  the  family ; 
and,  to  illustrate  this  position,  we  have  collected  a 
few  instances.  The  subject  of  the  preceding  bio- 
graphical sketch  died  in  his  71st  year,  the  youngest 
of  five  brothers,  the  four  elder  still  surviving.  His 
father  died  in  his  85th  year ;  his  grandfather  in  his 
71st,  whose  elder  brother,  David,  died  in  his  7Gth. 
The  fourteen  married  children  of  William  lived  to  a 
great  age,  in  many  instances.  Of  these  we  have  the 
ages  at  about  which  ten  of  them  died.  David,  78  ; 
Samuel,  85;  William,  85;  Hallett,  73;  John,  64 ; 
Walter,  71  ;  Freelove,  79 ;  Margaret,  74 ;  Phebe, 
83  ;  Sarah,  84.  The  period  of  the  decease  of  the 
remaining  four  was  late,  and  their  career  is  supposed 
to  have  been  of  the  same  average  length  as  those  of 
their  brothers  and  sisters.  Their  children,  in  turn, 


96 

have,  in  many  cases,  already  lived  to  that  period 
when  it  is  presumable,  with  the  vigorous  health  they 
enjoy,  that  they  will  reach  advanced  age.  Several 
have  passed  middle  life ;  some  have  deceased  at  a 
mature  age  ;  and  a  few  may  now  be  ranked  with  the 
patriarchs  of  the  family.  In  a  word,  this  general 
rule  holds  in  the  family,  that  death  occurs  rarely 
in  youth  or  middle  life,  and  that  most  of  the  name 
have  died  in  early  infancy,  or  have  lived  to  a  green 
old  age. 

Great  age  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  Herring  family 
also.  The  second  wife  of  Samuel  Jones,  the  elder, 
died  at  the  age  of  80,  and  her  mother  at  73.  The 
father  of  Judge  Herring,  (to  whom  I  am  indebted 
for  these  and  other  interesting  details,)  her  brother, 
was  84  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  his 
wife  deceased  at  ninety.  At  a  family  dinner  given 
by  this  gentleman,  were  present  his  four  married 
sisters  :  the  host  was  the  youngest  of  the  party,  and 
his  age  at  that  time  was  not  far  from  70. 


97 

Of  the  Family  of  Floyd  Jones. 

OF  the  family  of  Floyd-Jones,  now  occupying  the 
estate  of  the  first  common  ancestor  of  the  name, 
the  first  European  settler  upon  Fort  Neck,  some 
particular  account  is  requisite,  as  of  an  important 
branch  of  the  family.  For  this  purpose,  we  trans- 
cribe, from  a  genealogical  notice  of  the  Floyd  family, 
in  Thompson's  History  of  Long- Island,  the  following 
section,  which  will  account  for  the  origin  of  the 
patronymic : — 

Richard    Floyd,*  fourth,  eldest  son  of  Richard, 
third,f  of  whom  an  obituary  notice  is  given  under 

•  Floyd  is  an  ancient  Welsh  name.  The  first  ancestor  of  the 
Floyds  of  Long-Island  emigrated,  in  1656,  from  Wales,  and  died 
about  1700.  Some  portion  of  his  large  real  estate  is  owned  by  his 
descendants  of  the  sixth  generation.  The  family  has,  in  its  direct 
and  collateral  branches,  produced,  and  been  connected  with,  many 
distinguished  names.  Among  these  are  General  William  Floyd,  one 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  Gen.  Nathaniel 
Woodhull. 

f  Of  this  gentleman  there  is  an  account  in  Sabine.  From  the 
obituary  notice  wo  extract  the  following  character,  as  an  example  of 
liberality  of  spirit  that  does  honor  to  human  nature : — "  We  think 
ourselves  bound,  in  gratitude  to  the  memory  of  this  worthy  .gentle- 
man, to  acknowledge  the  many  favors  we  and  the  public  have  re- 
ceived in  and  through  his  means  during  the  late  war,  when  he 
commanded  the  militia  in  Suffolk.  This  gentleman  was  one  of  thf 


96 

article  Brookhaven,  settled  upon  his  father's  estate 
a,t  Mastic,  which  he  forfeited  by  his  adhesion  to 
the  British  cause  in  the  Revolution.  He  removed 
to  St.  Johns,  New-Brunswick,  where  he  died  in 
1792.  He  married  Arabella,  daughter  of  the  Hon. 
David  Jones,  by  whom  he  had  children — 1st,  Eliza- 
beth, born  August  8,  1758,  and  married  John  Peter 
Delancey,  son  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Delancey, 
and  died  May  7,  1820,  having  had  three  sons,  Thos. 
James  Delancey,  Edward  and  William  Heathcote 
Delancey,  (Bishop  of  Western  New- York,)  and  five 
daughters ;  Anna,  who  married  John  Loudon  Mc- 
Adam ;  Susan,  wife  of  James  Fennimore  Cooper ; 
Caroline,  Martha,  and  Maria ;  2d,  Anne  Willet,  who 
married  Samuel  Benj.  Nicoll  in  1784 ;  3d,  David 
Richard  Floyd,  born  November  14,  1764,  married 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Hendrick  Onderdonk,  September 
20,  1785,  and  died  Feb.  10,  1826,  leaving  a  widow, 
and  sons  Thomas  and  Henry.  Mr.  Floyd,  in  accord- 

most  generous  that  has  ever  lived  in  this  country.  All  ranks  of  people 
•were  most  courteously  entertained  by  him,  and  he  kept  one  of  the 
most  plentiful  tables  upon  Long-Island ;  and  he  never  failed  in  ex- 
tending his  generosity  to  the  poor  and  distressed.  In  short,  his  cha- 
racter was,  that  no  man  ever  went  from  his  house  either  hungry  or 
thirsty." 


99 

ance  with  the  will  of  his  grandfather,  and  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  act  of  March  14, 1778,  added  the  surname 
of  Jones,  and  the  family  are  now  known  by  the  pa-' 
tronymic  of  Floyd  Jones.  Mrs.  Jones  was  born 
March  26,  1758,  and  is  still  living,  at  the  age  of  85.* 
Her  sons  are  Brigadier  Thomas  Floyd  Jones,  born 
July  28,  1788,  who  married  Cornelia,  eldest  daughter 
of  Major  William  Jones ;  and  Major-General  Henry 
Floyd  Jones,  born  January  3,  1792,  and  married 
Helen,  daughter  of  Charles  Watts,  of  South  Carolina. 

*  Since  deceased 


PINIS. 


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